Modi govt should take up Bhopal gas tragedy issue with Obama

Bhopal, Nov 30: Two days before world's worst industrial disaster's 30th anniversary, Amnesty International Secretary General Salil Shetty today said that the Narendra Modi-led NDA government should raise issues pertaining to the Bhopal Gas tragedy with US President Barack Obama during his visit to India in January next year.

"It is time to give victims and survivors the compensation they deserve. It is time to clean up the site and toxic wastes. And it is time to ensure justice and bring Dow Chemicals and Carbide to book," he told reporters here.

Dow Chemicals had taken over Union Carbide Corporation, US, years after the December 1984 toxic gas leak from its plant here killed thousands of people and affected more than 5.5 lakh people.

Shetty said previous governments let Union Carbide off the hook by underestimating the number of people killed and maimed. "The Indian government has to urgently re-verify the data against health records and make the figures credible and in the line with Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and even state government records.

The recent announcement by Union Minister in this regard is a welcome move," he said. "Most importantly, for three decades, Union Carbide has used USA as a safe haven from criminal charges to dodge culpable homicide.

The Bhopal Chief Judicial Magistrate has called Union Carbide six times but because of their consistent no show, has called it an 'absconder'," Shetty said.

PTI