The Bhopal Gas tragedy has been yet another hallmark of the dumbness of the Indian legal system. For a loss of 25,000 lives, ailments to millions of others and an environmental travesty - 8 people were convicted this week - 25 years after the tragedy. These 8 people, of which one has already died, got 2 years imprisonment. Union Carbide, the company behind the accident had settled a $470 million settlement with the Govt. of India in the early 1990s. A sum of $500 per victim, not even enough to account for their medical expenses. For a contrast, BP has already paid over $ 1 billion for the 2010 Oil Spill in the American Gulf.
What is hogging the headlines is how Warren Anderson - then CEO of Union Carbide - came to India 2-3 days after the incident, was arrested and then let off by a connivance of ministers at state and central level. A CBI officer investigating the case said that Ministry of External Affairs wanted not to pursue Anderson’s extradition to India. Anderson should have been punished, but a lot of others are escaping from punishment as the public’s ire focuses on an American.
My points:
Arjun Singh, the idiot behind reservations in IITs, and the CM of Madhya Pradesh when Bhopal Gas Tragedy occurred should be hanged for giving a false assurance that the Union Carbide plant is safe. He then allowed Warren Anderson to go free in the aircraft meant for his use.
The investigation agencies and all the bureaucrats ranting on TV now should be punished. It was their responsibility to ensure that this plant followed safety standards.
Digvijay Singh, Congress CM of Madhya Pradesh in 1990s who accepted the Union Carbide plant with tons of hazardous industrial waste back from this company.
All the geniuses who arrived at the number of $470 million as compensation.
Union Carbide should have been shut down. Its assets liquidated and distributed among the victims,
Dow Chemicals, who bought Union Carbide in 1997, and USA government think the matter should be brought to closure. They will be successful. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, the spokesperson for India’s ruling Congress party is the lawyer for Dow. Singhvi says there is no conflict of interest. Its all his personal interest.
**_CBI’s ineffectiveness and the need for a sharp unbiased, fear-inducing investigator on lines of FBI.
_ __**
_** NDTV reached Anderson’s home today.**_
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhmVRckHHxM&feature=player_embedded
The report says Anderson is deaf and senile now. Thats good, Otherwise, he would have been laughing at all of us stupid and insensitive Indians.
_ _