New Delhi: It is a classic case of corporates passing the buck. First, it was Dow Chemicals that refused to accept the task of cleaning up the site of the Bhopal gas tragedy and now the second corporate group that indirectly became an owner of the plant, Eveready, has shrugged off responsibility or liability.
In a statement, Eveready has said it is not liable for pollution from or the cleanup of the Bhopal plant. Cleanup, says the company, should be done by the erstwhile owners, which is Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) via Union Carbide Corporation (UCC).
Eveready bought over UCIL, the Indian subsidiary of UCC, in 1994. It, however, says it has no connection to or involvement with the operations of the Bhopal plant as it closed down and even ceased to exist as an asset in the company's books.
A similar statement had earlier come from Dow Chemicals, claiming it had no liability for the cleanup.
Dow claims it has never owned or operated the facility in Bhopal. It says it is not responsible for any liability related to Bhopal. It also says that Union Carbide India Ltd exists in the form of Eveready Industries India Ltd.
Activists insist that all the companies created from the original UCC and UCIL should be jointly held liable and should clean up the Bhopal site together.
SO WHO OWNS THE BHOPAL PLANT?The Bhopal plant was owned and operated by Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL), a subsidiary of Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) at the time of the disaster in December 1984.
Kolkata-based Eveready industries bought over the Indian subsidiary UCIL in 1994.
US-based Dow Chemicals bought over the parent UCC in 2001.
Now, both Dow and Eveready say they are not responsible, leaving questions unanswered. Where does the buck stop? And who will accept liability?