New Delhi: Who should be made to pay for cleaning up the abandoned Union Carbide Plant in Bhopal - the epicenter of the world's worst industrial disaster? 20,000 people have died since a gas leak in 1984 poisoned an entire city, and many more continue to be affected by tons of toxic waste still at the site.
In 2005, the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, headed by Ram Vilas Paswan, made it clear that the sanitization exercise could cost Rs 100 crore and should be bankrolled by Dow Chemicals, which had bought Union Carbide in 2001.
(See Pics: Bhopal Gas verdict: Too little, too late?)Dow Chemicals refused, arguing that it was not response for Bhopal, and that the Indian subsidiary of Union Carbide, called UCIL, had already been sold to a different company.
(Read: Bhopal tragedy: 'Rash and negligent' recounts CBI Officer)In a week that saw a verdict that outraged the country, with a paltry sentence of two years for seven Indians who've been granted bail, one of the main questions that's now being asked, as India hunts for justice is: did Dow inherit liabilities related to the gas tragedy?
In the recent past, one of India's best-known industrialists, Ratan Tata, jumped into that same debate, offering that along with other Indian industrialists, he would spearhead the clean-up operation required for Bhopal.
Correspondence obtained under the Right to Information Act reveals that in 2006, the Chairman of Dow Chemicals, Andrew Liveris, claimed that he had received a guarantee from representatives of the Indian government that Dow would not be held liable for Bhopal.
In a letter written in November 2006, Andrew Liveris wrote to Ronen Sen, India's ambassador to America, stating that "the Government of India leaders need to work with all Ministers to ensure that their stated position is reflected in all dealings with the court" and that "the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers should now withdraw its demand of Rs 100 crore."
(Read: Why did India accept a mere $500 for every Bhopal life?)The question is whether the government should have made any statements at all on Dow's liability given that the matter was - and is still - being heard in the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
The debate since then has raged within the government without any conclusion.
(Read:Bhopal gas verdict: Questions over political culpability)In the past, senior ministers like Kamal Nath and P Chidambaram have argued in separate letters that Ratan Tata's offer should be accepted and that activists who are pushing for Dow to be involved are hurting their own stated cause: of stemming the health hazards posed to Bhopal by the defunct Carbide plant.
Critics however say Dow Chemicals is being given a far too easy ride by a government looking for big foreign investments.
Pawan, the minister who first said that Dow should pay Rs 100 crore refused to comment today.
(Watch: Bhopal's betrayal: Who is to blame?)