Even though 25 years have already elapsed after the Bhopal gas tragedy, which claimed over 10,000 lives and left around five lakh affected, yesterday’s minimalist verdict convicting eight accused doesn’t represent anything near closure. While activists have been correct in labelling the verdict a betrayal since the maximum jail sentence is two years and the fine a mere Rs 1 lakh for the worst industrial disaster India has ever seen (Rs 5 lakh for Union Carbide), the accused, who include the then Chairman of Union Carbide Keshub Mahindra, will appeal against the ruling. So, it will go to the high court, possibly to a division bench after that, and finally, to the Supreme Court. In other words, it’s safe to assume another couple of decades will go by in the judicial process.
Meanwhile, and this is Bhopal’s real tragedy, precious little has been done for the victims. The government has still not paid out all the compensation to the victims and their descendants (according to the Carbide faqs on the matter, around $390 million still remains to be disbursed), and, believe it or not, the site has still not been cleaned up. The toxic waste from the site was gathered and continues to be stored under a tarpaulin in the Carbide factory. It was only after a suit was filed in the Madhya Pradesh High Court in 2004 that the government began thinking about cleaning up the waste and this is currently stuck in another court case — the waste was to be sent to an incinerator in Gujarat but the state government withdrew permission after NGOs in Gujarat raised a hue and cry; the Madhya Pradesh High Court threatened the Gujarat government with contempt and the contempt case is now in the Supreme Court. While the Centre for Science and Environment has found that even the groundwater has been badly contaminated by the chemicals from the accident — lindane levels 40 times the permissible level, mercury levels 24 times over and carbaryl levels are 110 times the permissible levels — in locations that are 3 km away from the original accident site, various other agencies continue to say there is no problem. A report by the Defence Research and Development Establishment at Gwalior says the site’s waste has less toxicity than table salt — which is why the Madhya Pradesh government wants to build a Hiroshima-style memorial there. In other words, the government does not have a cohesive picture of what has happened, much less a plan. If the government was serious, even as NGOs argue whether the government or Dow (since it bought over Carbide) should pay the bill, the clean-up process should have taken place decades ago.
The case also throws up important legal issues. For one, should non-executive chairmen, like Mr Mahindra, be held responsible for actions they had no control over. If they are not, how do you prevent companies from appointing nameplate chairmen to provide a veneer for their activities? There is the issue of when liability ends — since the Supreme Court has affirmed the $470-million settlement between Carbide and the government, should the issue of corporate liability be raised again and extended to Dow Chemicals which bought over Carbide? Third, the entire episode makes it clear that India needs liability laws (of the type proposed in the nuclear Bill) which can be enforced to provide speedy justice to affected persons — a report in this newspaper a few days ago pointed out that a company could get away with an oil spill by just paying a penalty of Rs 5 crore under existing laws. Think of the liabilities BP is facing in the Gulf of Mexico spill and the tragedy looks a lot more stark.
