FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms FREE PRESS Vol. XLI No. 176 | INDORE | TUESDAY | DECEMBER 3, 2024 | Pages 14 ` 3 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. 38281/83 www.freepressjournal.in Sports Bumrah will go down as one of the greatest pacers: Head P.12 ESTD-1983 iii QUALITY @ VALUE EDITIONS: INDORE WORLD WHODUNNIT Despite long legal battle, victims await justice, compensation BASIC AMENITIES STILL MISSING Our Staff Reporter Forty years have passed since the Bhopal gas tragedy occurred, but responsibility for one of the biggest industrial disasters in the world is yet to be fixed. The government generally takes credit for acting on trivial issues. The Congress and the BJP have ruled the country and the state in the past 40 years, but none of those responsible for such a disaster that claimed thousands of human lives has been sent to jail. A court of chief judicial magistrate awarded two-year jail term to seven persons – Keshub Mahindra, V P Gokhale, Kishore Kamdar, J Mukund, S P Chowdhury, K V Shetty, and S I Qureshi, -under section 304A in 2010. But the section, under which the punishment was awarded, provides jail term only for two years. Immediately, all the MIDNIGHT HORROR sevengot bail from the district court. The case has been lying with the court for 14 years. Nevertheless, only three of the seven culprits, are alive. Four have passed away. The owner of Union Carbide Warren Anderson came to Bhopal only once after the tragedy. The then SP of the city Swaraj Puri sent him back by the state PUNE BHOPAL NASHIK Thousands of crores of rupees have been spent in the name of gas victims. But the government has failed to provide basic facilities, like education, medicines, homes and potable water to them. The hospital set up for the gas victims does not have doctors. The Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre is on the verge of closure due to shortage of doctors and other staff. It does not matter which political party runs a government, but none has a concrete plan for the sufferers. Diabetes incidence 5 times higher in victims Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL The number of diabetes patients among gas tragedy victims is five times higher than found among normal people. Similarly, number of menopause case is 2.6 times higher among gas tragedy-hit women, a study conducted by Sambhavana Trust Clinic, re- CLINICAL ANALYSIS hanger. Afterwards, Anderson never came to Bhopal during the hearing of the case. He, too, passed away. vealed. On the eve of the 40th anniversary of Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal, members of the Trust presented an analysis of clinical data of 16,305 gas-exposed and 8,106 unexposed patients who received care at the Clinic in the last 16 years. 4Continued on | P6 4Continued on | P6 Disaster was caused by accidental release of methyl isocyanate from pesticide plant of Union Carbide India Ltd, subsidiary of US-based Union Carbide Corp, killing thousands MUMBAI E-paper Edit AAP’s solo run a blow to INDIA P.8 25 killed in airstrikes targeting Syrian rebels BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY | 40 years on, responsibility for one of the biggest industrial disasters of the world is yet to be fixed; none sent to jail BHOPAL UJJAIN Cinema Vikrant Massey quits acting? P.14 Ratapani is state’s eighth tiger reserve Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL The state government on Monday issued a notification to declare Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary as a tiger reserve. It is the eighth tiger reserve of the state. It was long ago that the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) had given in principle approval to grant tiger reserve status to Ratapani Sanctuary. The total area of the tiger reserve will be 1,271.465 square kilometres, including 763.812 sq kms core area and 507.653 sq kms buffer area. This development came close on the heels of the NTCA giving in principle approval to the proposal of tiger reserve status to Shivpuri’s Madhav National Park. Interacting with Free Press, additional principal chief conservator of forest, wildlife, L Krishnamurthy, said a notification has been issued to declare Ratapani Sanctuary as a tiger reserve. As far as Madhav National Park getting in principle approval from the NTCA is concerned then on issuance of the notification, it will be the ninth tiger reserve of the state. Ratapani Sanctuary has rich wildlife. It has over 60 tigers apart from other wild animals. 4Continued on | P6 UGC chief gives thumbs down to annual exams Our Staff Reporter INDORE University Grants Commission chairman Jagadesh Kumar red flagged the annual system in institutes of higher learning stating that it’s against the spirit of the National Education Policy (NEP)2020. “NEP advocates for continuous evaluation of students which is possible only in semester system and not annual system. So, UG and PG courses should be run as per time-tested and globally accepted term system,” he told reporters. Kumar is in the city to participate in two different programmes. He said that the states which are running annual system of exams in UG and PG courses should shift to the semester system else the purpose of NEP-2020 would remain defeated. Madhya Pradesh, which boasts of being the first state in the country to implement NEP2020, runs UG courses under annual system. The state ran semester system in UG and PG courses from 2008 to 2016 but had scrapped it for traditional UG courses following protests of ABVP. Kumar stated that the states which have not launched the NEP-2020 should do the needful at the earliest so as to have an academic equivalence in scheme of exams. The UGC chairman also pitched for more autonomy to colleges asking universities to not put a check on the institutes approved to have autonomous status by the Commission. To a query regarding MP government forcing the state universities to have unified syllabi across the state, Kumar stated that the state governments should not encroach upon academic autonomy of institutions. He also hoped that the country will meet the target of 50 per cent gross enrolment ratio (GER) by 2035 by promoting digital education. “We can’t increase academic infrastructure to take GER from existing 29 per cent to 50 per cent by 2035 so digital courses is the only solution in sight,” he added. Russian bizman booked for Rs 2 cr fraud Our Staff Reporter INDORE A Russian businessman was booked by the Lasudia police for allegedly defrauding his partner of Rs 2 crore on Monday. Earlier, the businessman had staged a hunger strike and filed complaints with several police officials, claiming that a confectionery businessman had defrauded him. According to the police, Kartar Singh, the director of Kamco Chew Food Private Limited, lodged a complaint against Gaurav Ahlawat. The complaint alleged that Ahlawat had defrauded him. Following an investigation, it was found that Gaurav Ahlawat, founder and shareholder of GRV Company, along with his mother Krishnavanti Ahlawat, colluded with company employees to fraudulently transfer Rs 2 crore from Kamco Chew Food's registered bank account to Krishnavanti Ahlawat's bank accounts on August 3.  The police have registered a case against Gaurav Ahlawat and his mother under sections 316(5), 318(4) and 61(2) of the BNS Act. Further investigations are underway. 4Continued on | P6