'Bhopal case and nuke bill two different issues'

Washington, Jun 24: After the contentious Indo-US Nuclear deal invited more skepticism in the wake of the angst against the Bhopal gas tragedy verdict, Commerce and Industry Minister, Anand Sharma has asserted that the Nuclear liability bill and the Bhopal issue are different.

“They are two different issues.There are defined laws. The criminal, corporate and civil liabilities are very much defined in the laws of both countries," he said.

He also informed that the 1984 Bhopal gas leak case did not interfere with the India-US CEOs Forum meet.

The local court's verdict in the 1984 gas leak from the Union Carbide pesticide plant, which claimed over 15,000 lives and still poisons the region, invited the ire of the public as well as the Opposition as the convicts were slapped with light sentences while the main accused and the then CEO of Union Carbide, Warren Anderson, escaped consequences.

The disappointing verdict in the world's worst industrial accident raised questions if India should still go ahead with the nuclear liability bill with America.

When asked how the raging issue did not come up in the CEO meet, the minister said, “It never came up. In none of my interactions, I didn"t raise it. Nor did my interlocutors."

OneIndia News