NEW DELHI: Try as it might Dow Chemical Company is unable to shake off the criminal liability it inherited for the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster and also responsibility to clean up toxic contamination at the site of the pesticides plant, originally owned and operated by Union Carbide Corporation.

Since 2001 Dow has fully owned Union Carbide and legally taken over its liabilities, including culpability for the world’s worst industrial accident which killed over 3,000 people within the first week and inflicted enormous chemical damage upon more than 200,000 others. The injuries led to a further 15,000 deaths and terrible suffering among the survivors.

To make matters worse for Dow, voluntary agencies working on behalf of the survivors have turned up evidence that the government of “emerging economic giant” India has been trying to clear the multinational corporation (MNC) of its liabilities so that it can make large investments in India.

If these efforts succeed, the $49-billion United States-headquartered MNC, with operations in 175 countries, will be exonerated of its liability.

Union Carbide, some of its directors, including former chairman Warren Anderson, and its Indian subsidiary, stand charged before an Indian court with causing death by a negligent act.

Dow has been ordered by the Indian courts to clean up some 70 tonnes of poisonous residues which have contaminated the soil and groundwater at Carbide’s pesticides plant and penetrated vegetation and animal tissues in the surrounding area. It must also compensate some 20,000 people who suffer health damage from exposure to contaminants in their drinking water and food.

Dow faces a lawsuit in central Madhya Pradesh state in which the Indian Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers has demanded a token deposit of $250 million as initial payment for the costs of remediation (cleaning up).

Dow says it will not invest in India unless this claim is withdrawn and it is cleared of all its legal liabilities.

A galaxy of prominent Indian officials and industrialists, including Ratan Tata, head of India’s second largest business conglomerate, are lobbying on Dow’s behalf.

“It would be outrageous if this multinational corporation is let off its liability for a grave and continuing human tragedy”, says Madhumita Dutta of the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal. “That would only show that despite its high rates of growth and its claim to be emerging as an economic superpower, India still behaves like a Fourth World country, which puts corporate investment above the life and well-being of its own citizens.”

Lobbying on Dow’s behalf gathered momentum late last year, when the US embassy in India urged the government to withdraw the claim on the corporation and Ratan Tata offered “to lead and find funding” for the “remediation” of the Bhopal site.

Tata is co-chair of the Indo-US CEO Forum, of which Dow president Andrew N. Liveris is also a member. Liveris has met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at least twice.

Tata proposes that a corpus fund be established jointly by Indian and US companies to clean up the site — on condition that Dow is exonerated.

The Forum and the US-India Business Council demand that “legacy issues” like Bhopal be resolved through “dispute settlement mechanisms”, which would “send a strong positive message to US investors”.

There are numerous links between Dow, the Tatas and former Indian and US officials. Keshub Mahindra, former chairman of Union Carbide India, an accused in the Bhopal case, has served as director of several Tata companies. Former State Department official David Good, who has lobbied against Anderson’s arrest, heads the Tatas’ US corporate office.

Tata’s proposal found strong supporters in Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram. They wrote to the Prime Mnister’s Office recommending that the Dow/Carbide liability issue be resolved out of court.

Commerce Minister Kamal Nath was even more brazen. He wrote to the PMO: “... with a view to sending an appropriate signal to Dow Chemicals, which is exploring investing substantially in India, I would urge that a group under the chairmanship of the Cabinet Secretary be formed to look into the matter ... in a similar manner as was done with respect to the Enron Corporation...” (A power plant built by Enron turned out to be one of India’s biggest corporate scandals.)

As a result of this concerted effort, India’s Cabinet Secretary recommended last April: “It stands to reason that instead of continuing to agitate these issues (Dow’s legal liability) in court for a protracted period, due consideration should be given to the prospect of settling these issues appropriately. An important aim is to remove uncertainties and pave the way for promoting investments in the sector.”

“The PMO files contain evidence that top-level politicians and bureaucrats are conniving with Indian and US corporations to shut the book on the world’s worst industrial disaster and its long-suffering victims”, says Rashida Bee, leader of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh, an organisation of victims of the disaster.

The government did not succeed in bringing Carbide to trial in a US court, but assumed the power of being the victims’ exclusive legal representative. But it did not consult the victims while negotiating a paltry $470 million settlement which freed Carbide of its entire civil liability.

The Indian Supreme Court upheld and enforced this settlement — often called Bhopal’s second tragedy.

The victims will be re-victimised if Dow is allowed to walk away from its liabilities and obligations, activists say. —Dawn/The IPS News Service