After Dow Chemicals took over Union Carbide's global operations in 2001, the former insisted that it should not be dragged into criminal, environmental and financial liabilities for the gas leak incident in Bhopal that led to the death of nearly 20,000 people. Dow Chemicals has consistently maintained that it had "never owned nor operated the (Bhopal) plant" and, therefore, it "has no responsibility for Bhopal".
Dow has been asked by the Indian government to cough up money to clean up the toxic wastes—above and below ground—still present at the factory site.
In May 2005, while responding to a public interest litigation on the issue, the Union ministry of chemicals and fertilisers (MOCF) urged the Madhya Pradesh High Court to order Dow to deposit an initial amount of Rs 100 crore for this purpose.
On November 8, 2006, Liveris, CEO of Dow Chemicals shot off a letter to Ronen Sen (the then Indian Ambassador in USA) pointing out that
at the US-India CEO Forum (Indo-US CEO Forum is chaired by Tata and includes Liveris (CEO of Dow Chemicals) one of the 10 American CEOs handpicked and appointed to the forum by US President George Bush) in New York on 25 October 2006,
the Indian government representatives admitted at the meeting that "Dow is not responsible for Bhopal and will not be pursued by the GoI, hence it will be important to follow through to ensure that concrete, sustained actions are taken that are consistent with these statements".
Less than three weeks after Liveris' letter to Sen, Ratan Tata, Chairman of the so-called most reputed and responsible TATA group, took a seemingly pro-Dow stance. In a letter to Montek, the Tata Group chairman referred to the contents of the Liveris-Sen exchange. He added that the withdrawal of the MOCF court application "is obviously a key aspect and I wanted your assessment as to whether this is possible".
Interestingly, while responding to an application filed by Bhopal's International Campaign for Justice under RTIA, Naseem Ahmad, APIO, Planning Commission, admitted that the Dow chairman had met Montek twice.
This clearly unveils the ugly face of Indian Corporates and the market messiahs like Montek Singh Ahuluwalia. If this is what is done by TATAS the widely acclaimed socially responsible company having high ethical standards, then what would be the practises of the others companies, disturbing to think about.
Based on:
News story published by OUTLOOK Magazine, May 28, 2007
“THE ACID WASH EFFECT”---A government/industry nexus is giving leeway to Dow in the Union Carbide wrangle. Why?
By SHUCHI SRIVASTAVA
Visit at www.santhoshtv.in
Monday, September 8, 2008
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