In Bhopal, more than 25 years after one of the biggest industrial disasters in the World, 20,000 people are still drinking poisoned water; 10,000 gas victims who were promised jobs remain jobless; medical treatment for the indigent victims remains elusive; the site and its surroundings are polluted, and the culprit – Dow Chemical – is freely doing business in India.
On December 3, 1984, a union carbide pesticide producing plant leaked highly toxic cloud of methyl isocyanate into the air of a densely populated region of Bhopal. Of the 800,000 people living in Bhopal at that time, 2,000 died immediately, 300,000 were injured and as many as 8,000 have died since.
Due to the accident, many people suffered from various diseases and disorders even till many years later. The worst part is that people living near the premises of the site still continue to suffer. People living around the Union Carbide plant site have two options when it comes to drinking water. Either they are forced to drink the contaminated groundwater, which continues to be affected by toxic wastes dumped in the plant premises, or the municipal water is supplied from the nearby Raslakhedi village, known for a huge sewer. The water from both sources has been officially declared unfit for drinking.
n 2001, Dow Chemical bought Union Carbide for $9.3 billion, despite this, Dow has refused to accept moral responsibility and does not take accountability for the Bhopal gas tragedy. Even our Commerce Minister has also commented that ’Dow cannot be held accountable for Union Carbide’s liabilities’. Union Carbide and its former chairperson, Warren Anderson, both of whom face charges of culpable homicide and grievous assault, are absconding from Indian courts since 1992. By virtue of its acquisition of Union Carbide, Dow Chemical has inherited Carbide’s civil liabilities – of clean-up and compensation for water to the affected people. Also, in acquiring Union Carbide, Dow was well aware that it was inheriting an absconder.
The government went a step ahead and in the year 2006, it approved the collaboration between Reliance and Dow for the transfer of Union Carbide-owned patented technology. But according to the activists, this is illegal as Union Carbide’s assets in India are subject to confiscation as per the 1992 order of the Bhopal magistrate.
Instead of showing some sympathy and the will to fight for the victims, the government is worried about loosing the investment in the country. They feel any overtures to hold Dow liable for Bhopal-related issues will scare away Dow’s promised $1 billion investment in India and also discourage other American investors. Dow even admitted paying $22,000 (Rs 88 lakhs) as bribe to agriculture ministry officials to expedite registration of the three pesticides namely Dursban, Nurelle and Pride.
The company had to pay a fine of $ 325,000 (Rs 1.43 crores) to the Securities Exchange Commission for violating the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act last year. Dow tried to wash its hands off the controversy but there was substantial evidence against them. Dursban pesticide is banned in the US, as it is a neuro-toxin that can cause permanent damage to children’s brains but we are registering such pesticides so that we don’t loose investment. After all, who cares about the people when we have the population of over 1.1 billion.
In May 2007, Sharad Pawar said that the enquiry in this matter was going on by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The probe is concluded. But the report is gathering dust. Meanwhile, the pesticides and the culprits are roaming free and poisoning the children.
The Prime Minister had promised, 2 years back, to setup an Empowered Commission on Bhopal (ECoB) for long term medical care and rehabilitation of the people of Bhopal poisoned by Union Carbide – Dow Chemical. It has not yet been established.
The citizens of Bhopal have endured this corporate crime with embarrassingly little aid from their own government for the last 25 years. The tragedy is a clear case of collusion of the indian politicians with the western corporates. How else can you explain a compensation of USD 470 million? India has always been a soft state, scared of rubbing the west, the wrong way.
I sincerely wish that the Gas Tragedy emerges as a symbol of the new Indian might. I sincerely hope the tragedy serves as a lesson to any corporate or western superpower, so they do not take India too lightly. I sincerely hope the men who rule India, get implanted with some balls of steel. Till they don’t, we will keep being the beggars and the impoverished nation, that the west thinks we always have been…
inputs taken from http://www.merinews.com/article/bhopal-gas-tragedy-investment-vs-justice/134562.shtml
Related posts:
- New Company bill to check Indian corporate corruption? If our government is so serious about corruption in the country, then it is advised to clean up its act...
@corrupshun
Link Now!
Leave your response!