Where does responsibility lie for the clean up of the factory site in Bhopal and to address any on-going needs of the victims and their families?
Responsibility for the clean-up of the Bhopal site lies with the Madhya Pradesh State government. In 1998, the Madhya Pradesh State Government, which owned and had been leasing the property to UCIL, took over the facility and assumed all accountability for the site, including the completion of any additional remediation. As owners of the site, the State is in the best position to evaluate all scientific information that is available, to complete whatever remediation may be necessary. The central Government of India needs to address any ongoing concerns of the Bhopal people, thereby fulfilling the terms of the 1989 settlement and subsequent ruling upholding the settlement by the Indian Supreme Court in 1991. Union Carbide’s responsibility – along with the rest of the chemical industry – is to work hard every day to prevent a tragedy like this from ever happening again.
