Bhopal: 25 years for justice — even more for a clean-up
BHOPAL — India’s justice system took 25 years to deliver a verdict on the company executives blamed for the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster, but the pollution clean-up operation is taking even longer. On Monday, seven managers from the local subsidiary of US chemical group Union Carbide were sentenced to two years in prison for criminal negligence in the first convictions in the case. They will appeal and were released on bail. The sentences, perceived as too lenient by rights groups and survivors, have shone a spotlight on simmering grievances at the way the disaster was handled by the company and authorities. Union Carbide settled all liabilities related to the accident, including the clean-up costs, with a $470-million out-of-court deal with India’s government in 1989, after years of wrangling about the amount. Ever since, campaign groups, environmental groups and scientists have warned that local authorities have never adequately sanitized the site, meaning toxins continue to cause illnesses and birth defects among residents. “Nobody wants to clear the poison that is lying in the yard and all our protests demanding safe disposal have failed,” said Satinath Sarangi, a member of a voluntary medical organization, Sambhavna, in Bhopal. The disaster began on Dec. 3, 1984, when the Union Carbide pesticide plant in the central Indian city accidentally released about 40 tons of toxic gas into surrounding residential areas. Source: The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100610com3.html |
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