The case was filed by Janki Bai Sahu, a resident of Bhopal and others against Union Carbide Corporation pleading that their land and water remains contaminated by the waste from the chemical plant of Union Carbide in Bhopal even after several years of the tragedy. Non-governmental organisation EarthRights International had filed the lawsuit in the Southern District of New York on behalf of Sahu and others.
Janki Bai Sahu the complainant has expressed hope that state government would not get its act together and will now intervene in the case while it is being appealed in the Second Circuit Court of appeals.
"We are hopeful that Madhya Pradesh Government will stand with us in the Court of Appeals and will seek damages towards clean up and remediation of the abandoned Union Carbide plant and the 32 acre area of Solar Evaporation Ponds," she said.
Five non-government organisations, working in the interest of the surviours of Bhopal gas tragedy have said that along with the counsel of the petitioners they have made several attempts to get Madhya Pradesh Government to become a party in the ongoing litigation in New York.
"Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had expressed his willingness in the state Assembly in 2010 to join the petition but nothing had happened. In January 2014, plaintiffs had also sued state of Madhya Pradesh, which now owns the Bhopal site, to compel its cooperation in the clean-up of the contamination," Rachna Dhingra, an activist told Business Standard.
A summons was sent to the state government by the US Court in February 2014.
State government authorities had given a reason that the entire case is handled by the Central Government so state government could not intervene in the case.
"State government can be a party in the case when Central government has claimed the first settlement in the tragedy. Any issue, if left to be resolved, it needs to be taken care by Central government, as it is the first complainant," a government source said.
But activists of NGOs said that the last six months have been a "sordid tale of inefficiency, negligence and lack of political will of the MP government to do anything for the people poisoned by Union Carbide."
The new evidences in the case were submitted during January 2014 consisting of statements from former Union Carbide and Union Carbide India employees, as well as evaluations by experts in waste disposal systems, establishes that UCC provided critical design for the plant and its waste management system. And that particular design caused the ongoing toxic waste problem in Bhopal.
