How Anderson escaped from India (treating him like an honoured guest).
Sudhir-Architect
Warren
Anderson, the proclaimed offender in Bhopal gas tragedy case, was
allowed to leave India four days after the disastrous gas leak claimed
thousands of lives on the night of December 2, 1984.
Anderson was not merely allowed
to leave, but was regally escorted out by police and senior government
officials treating him like an honoured guest.
Four days after the world's worst industrial disaster, on December 7,
the then chairman of Union Carbide Corporation landed in Bhopal to take
stock of the tragedy.
He was arrested at the airport and taken to the company's guesthouse.
Headlines Today secured the footage of his arrest 25 years ago.
Anderson's arrest was even confirmed by the then Bhopal police chief,
Swaraj Puri.
But
within hours, he was granted bail and the same police force six hours
later escorted Anderson out of the city in a blue government vehicle.
Moti Singh, who was then the
district magistrate of Bhopal, told Headlines Today that he was asked by
the then chief secretary to release Anderson.
Clearly, someone was working
overtime to save Anderson. And not just in Bhopal, even in Delhi the
former chairman of Union Carbide had a free run. The man responsible for
the death of thousands was spotted in front of Parliament in the
capital.
As he sat on a white Ambassador car, there was no sign of any remorse or
tension on his face. Anderson finally left Delhi on December 7 and
never returned. All efforts to bring him back to face trial in the case
since then have failed.
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/101000/India/how-anderson-escaped-from-india.html
Pilot says CM ordered to fly Anderson to Delhi
Bhopal June 10, 2010
Breaking his
silence after 25 years, the pilot who flew Warren Anderson from Bhopal
to Delhi on December 7, 1984 says he took the former chairman of Union
Carbide Corporation to Delhi on the then chief minister's direction.
"The
order (to fly Anderson) came to us from Captain Ashish Sodhi. Generally
the orders come from the chief minister or his residence through
director of aviation," Captain S.H. Ali told Headlines Today.
Narrating how it all happened, Ali said, "He came in an Ambassador car.
We were waiting for him. He came along with two government officials,
the SP and the collector of Bhopal. When he boarded the plane we came to
know that he is Warren Anderson. There was no conversation with him."
"He was sitting quietly and kept his eyes closed. He looked tired.
Tension reflected from his face," the pilot said adding that he still
regretted why he didn't ask the person responsible for so many deaths
anything about the incident.
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/101000/India/How+Anderson+escaped+from+India.html?page=0
'Ex-Indian envoy backed Dow plea to end Bhopal case'
Even
as Union Carbide ex-chairman Warren Anderson's escape from India
remains a mystery, a letter written by Ronen Sen, former Indian
ambassador to the US, has surfaced to cause the government further
embarrassment on the issue.
Headlines Today has accessed a letter written by Sen in September 2005
to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).
In the letter, Sen pleads Dow Chemical's case in connection with the
Bhopal gas tragedy. Dow is the American MNC that bought Union Carbide,
the company that ran the ill-fated gas plant in Bhopal.
In the letter, Sen forwards Dow's proposal seeking a final end to the
litigation over the Bhopal gas leak.
"Dow's proposal for resolution of the Bhopal issue involved removing the
legal overhang of government litigation," wrote Sen in the letter.
Effectively, what Dow sought, and Sen backed, was bringing the court
cases over the tragedy to a quick end.
And
what was the potential trade-off for the lives lost and the thousands
maimed by the gas leak? In Sen's opinion, Dow would bring in
billions of dollars as FDI into the country and that in turn would
trigger a host of investments from other MNCs.
--
Thanks & Regards,
Sudhir Srinivasan
B.Arch,Dip.ID,Dip.CAD,Dip.PM,AIIA,AIIID,ARIAI
| Architect |