New Steps Fail to Satisfy Bhopal Gas Victims

(June 25) -- The Indian government has announced new relief measures for the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy, but activists say they still don't adequately address the suffering brought on by the world's worst industrial disaster.

The government acted in the face of public outrage in India after a local court this month sentenced seven Indian officials to two years in prison for negligence. They were fined $2,000 and released on bail.

Those convictions, the first in the case, came more than 25 years after poisonous methyl isocyanate gas leaked out of the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, a city in central India, on Dec 3, 1984. By the government's official count, 15,000 people were killed, but groups working on the disaster contend that as many as 23,000 related deaths were recorded and that many more died prematurely because of the accident.

In an out-of-court settlement in 1989, Union Carbide paid the Indian government $470 million to compensate victims of the disaster.

The additional steps announced by the Indian government on Thursday include more compensation, a cleanup of the factory site at the Indian federal government's expense and renewed efforts to get the former CEO of Union Carbide, Warren Anderson, extradited from the U.S. At the factory site, toxins have polluted the environment and the groundwater.

The new package gives about $22,000 to each family of a person killed by the leak and $4,000 to survivors of those who suffered permanent disability.

Groups involved in the tragedy have slammed the amount of compensation, which will be directed to only 42,000 out of the estimated 572,000 victims who activists say were affected by the gas, and 5,295 out of what they say are 23,000 recorded deaths. By those counts, some 93 percent of victims would receive no compensation.

"It is not adequate," said Satinath Sarangi, who runs a health clinic in Bhopal. "It leaves out most of the victims that deserve this money."

"The government is doing this because they want to stop the anger of the people after the court decision, but we cannot accept this," said Abdul Jabbar Khan, an activist who arrived in Bhopal only a few days after the leak to help the victims.

The total bill for the new package is $270 million, bringing the total compensation for the Bhopal accident so far to $740 million. By comparison, the Obama administration has wrested up to $20 billion from BP for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This week a U.S. federal judge approved compensation of up to $712 million for the 10,000 people who suffered health problems in the cleanup of New York's ground zero after 9/11.

Khan noted that many more people have died since the registration of gas-related deaths stopped in 1997, and that several temporary injuries have turned into permanent disabilities over the past 25 years. "This is a slap in the face added to the many we have already received," he said, suggesting that the government needed to take into account new claims.

"Nothing has been said on how to hold Dow responsible," Sarangi said, referring to the company that took over Union Carbide in 2001. "It will set a dangerous precedent for corporations that pollute and leave."

Dow Chemical Co. asserts that the 1989 out-of-court settlement with the Indian government shifted all liability for the factory to the state government of Madhya Pradesh.

The new steps call on India's attorney general to assess whether the 1989 settlement can be revisited. The government will also ask the Supreme Court of India to impose criminal liability on the seven Indians who faced only negligence charges in the recent decision.

Delhi has also promised a hard push in seeking the extradition of Anderson so he can face trial in India. Two arrest warrants are already out for the aging CEO, who lives in a New York suburb.

The retired CEO has steadfastly maintained that he is not responsible for the chemical disaster because the factory's daily operations were carried out by Union Carbide's Indian subsidiary. An extradition request has been pending since 2003, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has come under criticism for not confronting Washington on the matter.

"I don't think the Indian side has done anything till now except some formalities," said Khan. "Why doesn't the prime minister directly talk about it with President Obama when he meets him in Toronto for the G-20?"

Inflaming public fury this month was new evidence revealing that Anderson was flown out of Bhopal on the official state plane of Arjun Singh, the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh at the time.

Old television footage also surfaced in India that showed the CEO saying, "House arrest or no arrest or bail, no bail, I am free to go home. ... There is a law of the United States. ... India, bye-bye. Thank you."

The government has now said it will put together "additional material" to support the extradition request. But its implementation depends on the U.S. government, which has indicated that sending Anderson to India is not an option.

"I don't expect this verdict to reopen any new inquiries or anything like that. On the contrary, we hope that this is going to help to bring closure," said Robert Blake, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for South Asia, this month, after the sentencing of Union Carbide's Indian employees.