The documents make for interesting reading and cast some doubt on some of the individuals who are now part of the Group of Ministers (GoM) appointed by the Prime Minister to as they may be more interested in safeguarding the interests of Dow Chemicals, rather that those of the victims of the Bhopal Gas Disaster.
This is the broad substance of a communication sent to Sanctuary Asia by Toxics Link:
The GoM that has been constituted does not inspire confidence. Notably, the GoM, headed by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, was constituted on May 26, 2010 by the PM's Office. It is expected that notification of the same from the Cabinet Secretariat will be issued shortly. The documents gathered using RTI seem to suggest that Mr. Chidambaram and Mr. Kamal Nath expressed their support for Dow Chemical Company's proposal to save it from Union Carbide Corporation's liability in 2001 after its merger with Dow.
People in the know are suggesting that the real issue arising out of Bhopal verdict that has necessitated the setting up GoM is its fallout on the proposed Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill, pending in Parliament. It has emerged that any future liability regime must include criminal liability and must not cap the amount of civil liability because the damage from a nuclear or chemical disaster literally depends on the direction and nature of the wind at the time of the accident.
The Bhopal verdict seems to reveals that few lessons have been learnt from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster or Three Mile Island Nuclear Accident. It is unfortunate that even Parliament's standing committee on Environment, Forests, Science and Technology is frozen in its passivity with regard to both the Bhopal Disaster and the Nuclear Liability Bill. The Committee operates under the chairmanship of T Subbiram Reddy who is on record in Parliament in the past opposing any liability arising out of asbestos exposures. Incidentally, the Dow Chemicals Company has set aside $2.2 billion to address future asbestos-related liabilities arising out of the Union Carbide acquisition. How is that Dow Chemicals can take the asbestos liability of Union Carbide and not the liability for the industrial catastrophe in Bhopal?.
That those found guilty guilty were charged under Sections 304-A (causing death by negligence) rather than Section 304-II (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (the original charge) and Sections 336, 337 and 338 (gross negligence) is deliberate. It is becoming clear that large corporations are fast becoming undemocratic institutions by legal design and that this could make them ungovernable. India cannot afford this. It must demonstrate that its legislative will supersedes the financial interests of corporations whose loyalties may cause them to compromise the health and safety of citizens.
For all the trauma that the Bhopal Gas Disaster has caused, it today provides both India and the U.S. with an historic opportunity to finally ensure genuine legal remedy for one of the world's most shocking and regrettable incidents. If both countries do not rise to this occassion, history will not forgive us.
To obtain the 55-page document referred to in the above report write to Gopal Krishna, ToxicsWatch Alliance, New Delhi: E-mail: krishna2777@gmail.com
