Clean Bhopal Gas Leak Plant Site, US Lawmakers Ask Dow
The US lawmakers have asked Dow Chemical to clean the soil and underground water polluted by the infamous gas disaster at Union Carbide plant at Bhopal in 1983 but the US firm washed hands of its responsibilities arguing that it never owned or ran the plant.
As many as 27 lawmakers requested Dow Chemical Company to fulfill the demands of gas victims and ensure their medical and economic rehabilitation.
It may be mentioned that Dow acquired shares of Union Carbide in 2001, seven years after UCIL became Eveready Industries India Ltd.
“Union Carbide had no assets in India at the time of the transaction with Dow. Dow never owned or operated the UCIL plant site,” a spokesperson for Dow said in a statement.
Union Carbide paid $ 470 million in damages for the deadly gas leak from the plant on December 3, 1984, which left several hundred dead and thousands medically ill.
In a letter to the Dow Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris, the American lawmakers said, “We request that Dow ensures that a representative appear in the ongoing legal cases in India regarding Bhopal, that Dow meets the demands of the survivors for medical and economic rehabilitation, and cleans up the soil and groundwater contamination in and around the factory site”.
