A complaint has been filed in a local court here for registration of a criminal case against former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Arjun Singh for allegedly releasing the then Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson in a wrong manner after the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy.
If the Bhopal judgment results in independent directors and CEOs/plant managers waking up to their responsibilities, that can only be a good thing.
High levels of toxic chemicals are still found in Bhopal's drinking water, a new report published ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Bhopal gas tragedy, said.
Six of the Bhopal demonstrators will start their indefinite hunger strike on Tuesday demanding clean drinking water in the affected areas.
The government on Tuesday approved the disposal of nearly 350 metric tonnes of Union Carbide toxic waste in Bhopal by a German company. The approval was given following recommendations from a Group of Ministers on the Bhopal gas tragedy, chaired by Home Minister P C Chidambaram, officials said.
The handling of the Bhopal disaster is reflective of the highly feudal nature of our political culture, writes AV Rajwade
Judicial proceedings against Warren Anderson, proclaimed offender in the over two-decade old Bhopal gas leak case, are still pending in the United States. "Since Warren Anderson was declared a proclaimed offender during trial, the trial against him, M/s Union Carbide Corporation, USA is still pending," the CBI said in response to an RTI query.
Why was there so much public and media outrage over the Bhopal disaster - a 25-year-old issue? Why did the national media focus on this story which so far had been confined to the back rooms where only noisy environmental activists live?
In a setback to the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy, a United States court has held that neither Union Carbide nor its former chairman Warren Anderson were liable for environmental remediation or pollution-related claims emanating from the world's worst industrial accident.
Government on Friday moved the Supreme Court seeking enhancement of compensation from Rs 750 crore to Rs 7,700 crore for the victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy in which more than 5,000 people were killed due to leakage of poisonous gas from the Union Carbide factory.
Senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani on Thursday night suggested that the government, instead of trying to bring back former Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson, should ensure action against those who had enabled him to leave India in 1984 after the Bhopal gas leak tragedy.
The premises of the defunct Union Carbide factory will be opened for the public from January, 25 years after the gas leak from it killed and maimed thousands of people, a senior minister said on Tuesday."The Union Carbide factory premises will be thrown open for the public in January. The date of opening has not been finalised yet. The state also has plans to build a Hiroshima-like memorial there depicting the detailed account of the disaster," said a minister.
There is little hope of any justice in the Bhopal gas leak case. If the tragedy and the shock its finale has created awaken us to work on newer laws on corporate responsibility and accountability, it would be a gain, writes Kandaswami Subramanian.
Under tremendous pressure from India to drop Dow Chemicals as London Olympics sponsors, the Games' organising committee chief Sebastian Coe said they are ready to meet the activists protesting against the company because of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy.
Details of use of state government plane to ferry Union Carbide Chairman Warren Anderson out of Bhopal in 1984 are not available with the Madhya Pradesh government, state's aviation directorate has said.
A sessions court on Tuesday upheld a 2010 verdict of a trial court in the 1984 Bhopal Gas tragedy case while dismissing the Central Bureau of Investigation's petition seeking re-trial and enhancement of sentence awarded to former Union Carbide officials.
Three Bhopal gas tragedy survivors' organisations have opposed West Bengal government's move to invite Dow Chemicals to the proposed chemical hub in Haldia after the state government failed to acquire land at Nandigram.
Dow Chemical Company is once bitten, twice shy. Close on the heels of its US parent's move to deny liability for damages resulting from the Bhopal gas tragedy at a plant run by Union Carbide (a company it had bought), Dow India has called off a greenfield project to establish a research & development facility in Maharashtra.
The Congress has termed as "outrageous" and "ridiculous" the allegations that the Rajiv Gandhi government had assured "safe passage" to Union Carbide Chief Warren Anderson before he came to India in the aftermath of the deadly 1984 Bhopal gas leakage that killed thousands.
It has emerged that a senior US government functionary offered to help India garner greater funding from the World Bank in return for protecting Dow Chemicals from possible legal fallout from the gas tragedy.
A Delhi court on Wednesday allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation to seek extradition of Union Carbide Corporation chairman Warren Anderson, an accused in the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy case, from the United States.
The Bhopal Gas Relief and Rehabilitation Department is talking to the Indian Army and the Delhi-based National Institute of Disaster Management to help remove the toxic waste lying in the premises of the closed Union Carbide for the last 24 years. Last month, the department requested the Indian Army to help dispose of the waste.
The US has dismissed as "incorrect" reports that it is linking India's efforts to seek more compensation from the Union Carbide in the Bhopal gas tragedy with the bilateral investment ties, saying it is committed to building a strong relationship with the country.
The clean up issue, ignored in the Bhopal gas tragedy settlement, emerged 20 years later, with the government trying to hold Dow Chemicals, UCIL's successor, liable on the 'polluter pays' principle. From the legal perspective, for the victims, efforts at Anderson's extradition or a Law Ministry face off with Dow on cleanup are pointless, writes Kumkum Sen
The Group of Ministers on Bhopal gas tragedy is understood to have decided on Sunday to recommend filing of a curative petition in the Supreme Court to fix criminal liability, seek extradition of former Union Carbide Corp CEO Warren Anderson and cleaning up the complex by burying the toxic waste.
The Group of Ministers on Bhopal gas tragedy discussed legal options available to the government, said Home Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday, the second day of the GoM meeting.
The trial court in the Bhopal gas tragedy case has held the owners of the Union Carbide pesticide plant, the Indian government and 'to some extent' the government of Madhya Pradesh responsible for the magnitude of the disaster. "The problem was worsened by the plant's location near a densely populated area, non-existent catastrophe plans and shortcomings in health care and socio-economic rehabilitation," said the judgment delivered by Chief Judicial Magistrate Mohan P Tiwari.
The survivors had demanded damages from the company and alleged that their water aquifiers were polluted due to the leak of hazardous chemicals from the UCC factory in Bhopal.
Even after the passage of 27 years, a consensus -- between the government and the non-government -- on the number of victims of Bhopal gas disaster is elusive.
The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to the Union Carbide Corporation, Dow Chemicals and others on a Centre's plea seeking enhancement of compensation to the victims of 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy from Rs 750 crore to Rs 7,700 crore.
Congress leader Arjun Singh finally broke his silence over the Bhopal gas tragedy on Wednesday during a rare appearance in the Rajya Sabha. The septuagenarian leader, who was the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh when the Bhopal gas tragedy took place, arrived in a wheel chair soon after Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad initiated a discussion on the issue. "I felt that Union Carbide CEO) Warren Anderson should be arrested," he said.
Not satisfied with the Centre's relief package, seven organisations championing the cause of Bhopal gas victims on Friday criticised the government for not considering their objections to some of the recommendations by the Group of Ministers looking into the issue.
AIIMS-Delhi reports a rise in eye injuries caused by carbide guns during Diwali, prompting calls for a ban on these dangerous chemical firecrackers. Doctors report severe chemical burn-like injuries and highlight the need for stricter regulations and awareness.
Admitting that it has moved on Bhopal gas disaster issue in view of public outcry, the government on Thursday said it will ask the Central Bureau of Investigation to seek early hearing in a Bhopal court on its revision petition and seek graver punishment for the accused in the tragedy.
Survivors of the deadly 1984 Bhopal gas leak are holding a 'Special Olympics' with children suffering birth defects from the tragedy.
'Arjun Singh was chief minister of Madhya Pradesh back in 1984. He is still on Indian soil, and, presumably, available for questioning.'
To mark the 25th anniversary of the Bhopal gas tragedy, Madhya Pradesh government has decided to throw open for public the defunct Union carbide factory that claimed thousands of lives following leakage of toxic gases.
The Union cabinet will discuss the report of the Group of Ministers on the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy on Thursday.
