Govt not to accept Tatas' offer to mediate with Dow: Montek

Industry doyen Ratan Tata has offered to negotiate with Dow Chemicals for a settlement on cleaning Bhopal Gas accident site, but the government cannot accept it, Planning Commission has said.

"Ratan Tata has made a proposal to government that he is willing to lead remediation efforts. But it seems that it's not going to happen because the court has already directed the government to stop the process of remediation, which we are doing," Planning Commission Deputy Chairman told the state-run Lok Sabha television.

Tata, who is the chief of the salt-to-software group, is also heading the Investment Commission, which facilitates inflow of FDI into the country.

The Bhopal Gas Tragedy, which occurred due to leakage of toxic gases from the plant of Union Carbide in December 1984 had killed many people and affected thousands.

Although the issue of compensation to victims of disaster has been settled by the Supreme Court, the problems concerning the cleaning up of the site of toxicity remains for which the NGOs had filed a case in the Madhya Pradesh High Court.