International

Setback to Bhopal Gas victims, US court lets off Union Carbide

New York: In a major blow to thousands of victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, a US court on Thursday held that neither Union Carbide nor its former chairman Warren Anderson were liable for environmental remediation or pollution-related claims at the firm’s former chemical plant in Bhopal.
US district judge John Keena in Manhattan dismissed a lawsuit accusing the company of causing soil and water pollution around the Bhopal plant due to the disaster , and ruled that Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) and Anderson were not liable for remediation or pollution-related claims.

The court ruled that it was Union Carbide India Ltd, and not its parent company UCC that was responsible for the generation and disposal of the waste that polluted drinking water, and the liability rests with the state government.
UCC, now a part of Dow Chemical Corporation, had sold its holding in the unit involved in the leak — Union Carbide India Ltd — in 1994. Plaintiffs Janki Bai Sahu and others had alleged that “toxic substances seeped into a ground aquifer, polluting the soil and drinking water supply in residential communities surrounding the former Bhopal Plant site”.

They also stated that the residents’ exposure to polluted soil and drinking water had caused injuries. “The summary judgement record certainly indicates that UCIL consulted with UCC about its waste disposal plans and on non-environmental business matter like its strategic plan.

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