Question

“In 2004, the Supreme Court of India ordered the Madhya Pradesh Govt to supply clean drinking water to the residents of Bhopal.”

“In 2010, several former executives of Union Carbide’s India subsidiary were convicted of negligence in the disaster caused by a Bhopal gas leak.”

1. What was manufactured by the Union Carbide at Bhopal?
2. Why the Supreme Court had to intervene to provide clean drinking water to the residents of Bhopal?

Answer 1

1. Union Carbide ran a pesticide plant at Bhopal; the toxic chemical released in the 1984 accident was methyl isocyanate (MIC), used in pesticide production.
2. The plant site and surrounding area remained heavily contaminated after the disaster (large amounts of industrial waste and toxic residues), which polluted the local groundwater and made it unsafe to drink. Because the groundwater was contaminated and the site had not been properly cleaned up, the Supreme Court ordered the Madhya Pradesh government in 2004 to supply clean drinking water to Bhopal residents.