My EMBA Journey

I am a member of Boston chapter of Association of India Development(AID). We have a mailing list and today I received an interesting email which is of special interest to me. As per Hindustan Times, a famous Indian daily newspaper Dow Chemical has agreed to setup an fund to clean up thousands of tonnes of contaminated soil along with measures to resolve the long running lawsuits. I am pasting the email I recieved from AID India. Personally I am really happy for the people of Bhopal. Its high time that Dow Chemical has decided to step up and take ownership of liabilities they acquired from Union Carbide.
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India, Dow Chemical may settle Bhopal gas disaster claims: report
Mon Oct 22, 2:52 AM ET

NEW DELHI (AFP) - India could reach an out-of-court settlement with US giant Dow Chemical to clean up the Bhopal gas disaster site and end liability claims after more than two decades, a report said Monday.

India's law ministry said the move would clear "legal hurdles" to future Dow Chemical investments in India by setting up a fund to clean up thousands of tonnes of contaminated soil along with other measures to resolve long-running lawsuits linked to the disaster, the Hindustan Times newspaper reported.

The government was prompted by Indian industrial conglomerate the Tata Group to pursue a settlement, and Dow Chemical's chief executive wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier this year on the issue, the newspaper said.

The law ministry was not immediately available to comment on the report.

Thousands of people were killed on December 3, 1984 when a then Union Carbide plant at Bhopal in central India disgorged 40 tonnes of lethal methyl isocyanate gas in one of the world's worst environmental disasters.

Dow Chemical, which took over Union Carbide in 2001, has long insisted that all liabilities regarding the disaster were settled when Union Carbide concluded a 470-million-dollar compensation settlement with New Delhi in 1989.

But local and federal court cases in India have challenged that view with lawsuits calling for more compensation for survivors and liability claims for ongoing health problems linked to the disaster.

Social activist Sandeep Pandey, who is associated with the gas tragedy victims, told the newspaper that his supporters would oppose any move to settle with Dow Chemical.

"Allowing Dow Chemical in India without paying the liabilities is a crime," Pandey told the newspaper.

Compensation payments to survivors as well as medical attention have been delayed because of bureaucracy and lawsuits since the settlement.

According to the Indian government, at least 15,000 people have died from illness resulting from the disaster while Amnesty International said resulting illnesses had claimed 22,000 to 25,000 lives.

Local victims' rights activists put the figure as high as 30,000.

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