Indian-origin MP gets UK parliament to debate Bhopal gas tragedy

An Indian-origin Opposition Labour Party MP secured a debate in Westminster Hall of the UK parliament to call for justice for the victims of Bhopal gas tragedy, which will mark its 38th anniversary early next month.

Navendu Mishra, Labour MP for Stockport in northern England and chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for India (trade and investment), called on the UK government to demand action in Britain from Dow Chemical -- the owners of Union Carbide, the American corporation involved with the gas leak disaster in December 1984.

During the parliamentary debate on Tuesday, he sought Britain's contribution to the campaign for justice in India and for UK government pressure on Dow to face justice in the Indian courts.

”The Dow Chemical Company, which is the parent company of Union Carbide, has for too long evaded its responsibility to the victims and survivors,” said Mishra.

”Today we are still campaigning for justice for the victims and survivors. Groups such as Action for Bhopal, the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, the trade union Unison, the British TUC, and Indian civil society and trade unions, have all called for compensation, environmental remediation, medical care and research, and support for the victims,” he said.

The Bhopal gas tragedy occurred on December 2-3, 1984, when over 500,000 people were exposed to methyl isocyanate following a leak at a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Madhya Pradesh. The tragic incident is widely regarded as the worst industrial disaster to have ever taken place in the world.

”For many of us -- the older ones in the room -- the disaster at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal is seared into our memories as one of the worst industrial accidents in history,” said Anne-Marie Trevelyan, minister of state in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), during the UK government's response to the debate.

”On 3 December 1984 this gas leak from a pesticide plant killed 3,800 people immediately. It has left up to half a million more with significant illness and has caused premature deaths. The responsibility to respond to the tragic disaster has always lain with Union Carbide, an American company, and with the government of India,” she said.

The minister admitted that the UK did not provide any additional funding or direct support to India in response to the tragedy but the erstwhile Department for International Development (DfID) supported wider development in Madhya Pradesh that has “benefited people, including those affected by the disaster living in Bhopal”.

”I will commit to raise with my Indian counterparts the concerns of all parliamentarians present about the need for continuing support and compensation for victims,” she said.