Union Carbide should face Indian courts over Bhopal disaster: Survey

NEW DELHI: People in the United States and India want that Union Carbide face an Indian court for its role in the Bhopal Gas tragedy that claimed more than 20,000 lives, a recent survey has revealed.

"New poll results published today show clear public support, in both India and the US, for America-based Union Carbide to face an Indian court over the Bhopal gas leak disaster which left more than 20,000 people dead and poisoned more than half a million in 1984," an Amnesty International poll survey statement said.

The poll, carried out by YouGov to mark the 30th anniversary of the disaster, showed a massive 82 per cent of Indians surveyed want that Union Carbide, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dow Chemicals, stand trial at an Indian court over its role in the gas leak at the Bhopal plant.

"While fewer US respondents expressed a view, of those who did, almost two thirds (62 per cent) agreed with that call," the statement said.

The survey, conducted on 1,011 Indians living in urban areas and 1,000 US citizens, reveals strong support in both countries that governments of both the nations should ensure that Union Carbide is held accountable for the disaster.

According to the poll, 66 per cent of Indian participants and 45 per cent of US respondents believe that the companies who owned and operated the Bhopal site should pay for the clean-up of the contamination.

The Bhopal disaster also referred to as the Bhopal gas tragedy, was a gas leak incident considered the world's worst industrial disaster which occurred on the night of December 2 December 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.