|
New Delhi: A top
bureaucrat in New Delhi and not then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi
had lobbied for bailing out Union Carbide chairman Warren Anderson
after his arrest for the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster, Arjun Singh,
then the Madhya Pradesh chief minister, says in his
posthumously-published autobiography.
"I would like to make it clear that at no point did Rajiv talk to
me about this matter or intercede on Anderson's behalf. I came to
know later that the then union home secretary R.D. Pradhan, upon
instructions of the union home minister had telephoned (state
chief secretary) Brahma Swaroop to ensure Anderson's release,"
Singh says in "A Grain of Sand in the Hourglass of Time" (HayHouse),
co-authored with Ashok Chopra.
Pradhan had also instructed that Anderson be sent back to New
Delhi in a state government plane. Anderson had visited Bhopal Dec
7, four days after disastrous gas leak from the Union Carbide
plant on the night of Dec 2-3, 1984, to ostensibly to assess the
extent of the damage. More than 3,000 people died instantly in the
tragedy and many thousands more in subsequent years.
Singh says he told Brahma Swaroop to ensure Anderson's arrest was
recorded before he was sent back to Delhi from Bhopal.
Early in the afternoon, Anderson was granted bail by the Bhopal
district magistrate, Singh, who also served as the union human
resource development minister, says in his book.
"The deputy inspector-general of Bhopal, who was supposed to
escort Anderson to the airport after instructions for his release
was given, was not in town. Consequently, this task had to be done
by (Bhopal superintendent of police) Swaraj Puri very discreetly.
"The media immediately did not get to know that Anderson had flown
out of Bhopal at 1 p.m and then to the US. It was only around 6
p.m. that the BBC reported the news, which soon created a
political storm," Singh recounts in the book, the draft of which
was completed just before he died on March 4, 2011.
"There was a huge hue and cry demanding to know why Anderson had
been let off so lightly: Anderson had flown out of India never to
return."
The tragedy, the world's worst industrial disaster, haunts even
after 28 years with its staggering toll that continues to fester
with new ramifications, some of them permanent.
According to Singh, in the final analysis, the Madhya Pradesh
government had placed the immediate deaths from the gas leak at
3,000, while 8,000 have died since from gas-related diseases.
A 2006 state government affidavit placed the number of injured at
558,125, the book says.
"Many legal cases are pending in various courts, including the
arrest of Warren Anderson who is in his early 90s, to India."
"Even today, the after-effects are being felt. Some of the
next-generation members have inherited various diseases (like
cancer, asthma, bronchitis and skin problems), besides suffering
from physical deformities. Also the ground water in parts of
Bhopal remains contaminated with toxic chemicals."
In 2010, a discussion on the aftermath of the tragedy triggered
heated exchanges between the BJP and Congress in the Madhya
Pradesh assembly, Singh writes.
"Insinuations were made by BJP members (including by Chief
Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan) that Rajiv Gandhi and I had let
Anderson off the hook easily. They accused Rajiv and me of
succumbing to external pressures. I have already mentioned how
Anderson was released."
|
Comments
|
Quick links