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Yearning for the rule of law
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Liberation judiciary
Bhopal’s disaster of governance
Constitutional Court – model for success
8-9/2004
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[ 20 years later ]
Bhopal’s disaster of governance
All over the world, the name of Bhopal stands for a major chemical disaster. In India, the events surrounding the chemicals accident of 1984 are also seen as a major failure of governance. Almost 20 years after the catastrophe claimed at least 4000 lives in a couple of days, the case has still not been legally resolved. By the end of the 1980s more than 20.000 deaths caused by the toxic fumes had been registered. Thousands of victims, many of them affected by pesticide related illnesses, remain uncompensated even today.
Had the authorities in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh done their job properly, the disaster in Union Carbide’s Bhopal plant might never have occurred. For instance, slums had been allowed to mushroom much closer to the production complex than safety standards would have permitted. People living in these huts fell victim to the poison gas. Entire families were wiped out.
Union Carbide was running the plant with an insufficient number of workers, too many of whom were unskilled. Safety measures which, if operational at the time, could have prevented the escalation of the chemical reactions had either been switched off, been in disrepair for great lengths of time or never been installed. While the management is to be held responsible for such shortcomings, governmental duties include monitoring industries. It is telling that the administration of Madhya Pradesh was unable to present records of earlier Union Carbide accidents after the big catastrophe had occurred.
In 1989, India’s national government struck an out-of-court agreement with Union Carbide settling for a total compensation of only $ 470 million. At the time, the Supreme Court had been hearing a case in which plaintiffs had demanded some $ 3.2 billion. This case, however, was dropped.
Ever since, the slow speed with which the authorities have handed out money to the victims seemed to be a perpetual scandal. There were many complaints of corruption and fraud. Only in July this year did the Supreme Court finally order that the 330 million dollars (including interest) which still remained in government coffers be disbursed directly to some 580 000 gas victims and their families. Persons affected demand that the amount be quadrupled.
In the meantime, the suffering goes on. According to a lawyer of victims, at least 4500 people in Bhopal still need regular medical assistance which the public hospitals are in no position to deliver. They depend on charitable institutions.
While Union Carbide hardly showed any compassion for the accident’s victims, the corporation itself also never fully recovered. Its deadly reputation turned out to be a severe burden in business terms for the company active on the world market. All managers of multinationals dread the mere thought of something similar happening to their company. Eventually, Union Carbide was swallowed by industrial giant Dow Chemical. Dow, in turn, is now haunted by the deadly event of Bhopal.
Pesticide production was stopped after the accident of 1984. The industrial compound, however, was never tidied up. Non-governmental organisations in Bhopal complain about contaminated water and other hazardous pollution emanating from the former chemicals plant. In June this year, the national government in New Delhi agreed to have a law court in New York State handle the matter. Victims had taken Dow to court in the USA demanding that the corporation take care of the industrial waste still rotting away on the abandoned compound.
According to Union Carbide, the accident in 1984 was an act of sabotage. Dow’s management sticks to this line, for which no proof has been delivered. Negligence seems a far more likely cause. On the other hand, Indian prosecutors want to try Union Carbide’s former chairman Warren Anderson for murder. Last year, almost 19 years after the event, the Indian government asked the USA to hand him over. (dem)
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