tagged w/ Bhopal disaster
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Rights groups representing survivors of the Bhopal disaster expressed outrage at what they called "insulting" sentences given to seven men for their roles in the tragedy.Rights groups representing survivors of the Bhopal disaster expressed outrage at what... more
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OVER a quarter of a century after a deadly methyl isocyanate gas leak from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal killed thousands of people, eight men (one of whom is now dead) have been convicted of causing “death by negligence”. The district court in Bhopal sentenced them to two years in prison and imposed fines. The accused were immediately released on Rs 25,000 ($530) personal bail bonds. They include Keshub Mahindra (current chairman of India's big tractor maker Mahindra & Mahindra), who was formerly chairman of Union Carbide’s Indian subsidiary.
The wheels of justice always turn slowly in India’s courts, which have a backlog of more than 20m cases. One judge recently suggested that it would take 320 years to clear it. But they were particularly ponderous in this case. After the accident India’s government concentrated on getting compensation from Union Carbide. A criminal case only began in 1987, when India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), charged 12 people with "culpable homicide not amounting to murder".
http://www.economist.com/blogs/newsbook/2010/06/bhopal_verdict?source=features_box_mainOVER a quarter of a century after a deadly methyl isocyanate gas leak from the Union... more
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A court in the Indian city of Bhopal has sentenced eight people to two years each in jail over a gas plant leak that killed thousands of people in 1984.
The convictions are the first since the disaster at the Union Carbide plant - the world's worst industrial accident.
The eight Indians, all former plant employees, were convicted of "death by negligence". One had already died - the others are expected to appeal.
Campaigners said the court verdict was "too little and too late".
'Betrayal'
Forty tonnes of a toxin called methyl isocyanate leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide factory and settled over slums in Bhopal on 3 December 1984.
Twenty-five years after the world's worst industrial disaster, people have finally been held legally responsible.
But the verdict is being described as more symbolic than just by rights groups and NGOs who have been working with the maimed gas victims.
They say that two-year prison sentences for Indians found guilty over the tragedy which killed thousands is an indictment of the country's slow-moving criminal justice system and investigative agencies.
Campaigners would like to see the former Union Carbide chairman Warren Anderson, the prime accused in the case, brought to justice. A warrant for his arrest was issued by an Indian court in 2003 but never acted on.
Biswas: Bhopal's tragedy
The Indian government says some 3,500 people died within days and more than 15,000 in the years since.
Campaigners put the death toll as high as 25,000 and say the horrific effects of the gas continue to this day.
The site of the former pesticide plant is now abandoned.
It was taken over by the state government of Madhya Pradesh in 1998, but environmentalists say poison is still found there.
The eight convicted on Monday were Keshub Mahindra, the chairman of the Indian arm of the Union Carbide (UCIL); VP Gokhale, managing director; Kishore Kamdar, vice-president; J Mukund, works manager; SP Chowdhury, production manager; KV Shetty, plant superintendent; SI Qureshi, production assistant. All of them are Indians.
The seven former employees, some of whom are now in their 70s, were also ordered to pay fines of 100,000 Indian rupees (£1,467; $2,125) apiece.
Although Warren Anderson, the American then-chairman of the US-based Union Carbide parent group, was named as an accused and later declared an "absconder" by the court, he was not mentioned in Monday's verdict.
Rights groups and NGOs working with the victims of the gas leak said that the verdict was inadequate.
BHOPAL'S DEATH TOLL
Initial deaths (3-6 December): more than 3,000 - official toll
Unofficial initial toll: 7,000-8,000
Total deaths to date: over 15,000
Number affected: Nearly 600,000
Compensation: Union Carbide pays $470m in 1989
Source: Indian Supreme Court, Madhya Pradesh government, Indian Council of Medical Research
It sets a very sad precedent. The disaster has been treated like a traffic accident. It is a judicial disaster, and it is a betrayal [of Indian people] by the government," activist Satinath Sarangi said.A court in the Indian city of Bhopal has sentenced eight people to two years each in... more
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Al Gore’s environmental organization Live Earth has taken money to raise awareness about the need for clean water from a controversial chemicals company involved in the aftermath of one of the world's worst pollution disasters.
Dow Chemical, the US firm which now owns the leaking pesticides factory responsible for thousands of deaths in Bhopal, India, sponsored Live Earth events in 150 cities this past week. The event aimed to raise money for clean water programs. Research by environmental organizations has found dangerous levels of highly toxic chemicals in rivers, lakes and other water supplies close to several other factories owned by Dow and its subsidiaries in countries including the United States, Brazil and South Africa.Al Gore’s environmental organization Live Earth has taken money to raise... more
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Groundwater near the site of the world's worst chemical industrial accident is still toxic and poisoning residents a quarter of a century later.Groundwater near the site of the world's worst chemical industrial accident is... more
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