PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
India: Accidents (31 October 2022)

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer on 28 October 2022 to Question 62153 on India: Accidents, whether any specific support has been provided to the (a) state government and (b) civil society partners to help improve (i) health, (ii) nutrition, (iii) basic urban services and (iv) rural livelihoods for victims of the Bhopal disaster.

Asked by:
Navendu Mishra (Labour)

Union Carbide provided a settlement of $470 million to the Indian Government following the Bhopal disaster to fund a clean up operation, compensation to the injured and the families of the deceased, and provide ongoing welfare support to those affected. The UK's Department for International Development (DfID) did not provide any additional funding or direct support. DfID has supported development in Madhya Pradesh since 1999. We worked with the State Government to assist 11,000 slum dwellers with access to clean water and 66,400 households in rural areas to increase their income across the state covering eight affected slums in Bhopal by the tragedy. The health support doubled the number of births in hospitals and clinics, increasing the chances of newborn survival across the state. Union Carbide and DfID programmes ended in 2013 and 2015, respectively. The FCDO has had no direct engagement with the State Government on the gas tragedy since 2015.

Answered by:
Anne-Marie Trevelyan (Conservative)
8 November 2022