US lawmakers want Dow to clean Bhopal gas leak plant site

WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI: US lawmakers have asked Dow Chemical to clean up the soil and underground water contaminated by the deadly gas leak at Union Carbide plant at Bhopal but the US firm disowned the liabilities saying that it never owned or operated the disgraced plant site.

As many as 27 lawmakers have requested Dow Chemical Company to meet the demands of the survivors of Bhopal tragedy for medical and economic rehabilitation.

Dow acquired shares of Union Carbide in 2001, seven years after UCIL became Eveready Industries India Ltd.

"Union Carbide had no assets in India at the time of the transaction with Dow. Dow never owned or operated the UCIL plant site," a spokesperson for Dow said in a statement.

Union Carbide paid $ 470 million in damages for the deadly gas leak from the plant on December 3, 1984, which left several hundred dead and thousands medically ill.

In a letter to the Dow Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris, the American lawmakers said, "We request that Dow ensures that a representative appear in the ongoing legal cases in India regarding Bhopal, that Dow meets the demands of the survivors for medical and economic rehabilitation, and cleans up the soil and groundwater contamination in and around the factory site".