In a 2007 letter written to the Prime Minister, Industries minister Kamal Nath stated that “with a view to sending an appropriate signal to Dow Chemicals…and the U.S. business community, I would urge…to look at this matter in a holistic manner (the matter of Dow being liable for clean-up of Bhopal site)”.
Shortly before the 2006 Indo-U.S. CEO forum, as a result of intense lobbying by Dow CEO Andrew Liveris, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry granted approval to a project involving Reliance Petrochemical Ltd and Dow Global even after apprehensions expressed over it by the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
It now appears that the approval was expedited without addressing relevant concerns raised by the ministry of chemicals and fertilizers.
The approval was refused to be reconsidered by the Commerce ministry even after the Chemicals ministry requested them to do so in the light of the Government of India's pending writ petition in the Madhya Pradesh High Court to hold Dow Chemicals responsible for setting up the site remediation trust for the clean up of the Bhopal gas leak site.
In October 2006, Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPL) was granted approval for a Foreign Technology Collaboration (FTC) with Dow Global Technologies, USA (Dow Global) from the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals in order to set up a Polypropylene plant at the Jamnagar Special Economic Zone.
In a Ministry of External Affairs document, obtained by Bhopal activists under RTI, it is mentioned that the FTC approval served to send Dow the right signals.
“This (the FTC approval) was greatly appreciated as a signal that Dow was not blacklisted as an investor. However, they (Dow) have sought a statement from GOI in the court clarifying that GOI does not regard Dow as legally responsible for liabilities of UCC,” reads the MEA document.
“Approving an investment by a company that has the blood of Indian citizens on its hands is condemnable,” says Satinath Sarangi of the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal.
“The Commerce ministry obviously granted approval without reconsideration at the behest of minister Kamal Nath who has been an advocate of encouraging investments by Dow,” says Sarangi.
Mr. Nath happens to be in the reconstituted Group of Ministers on the Bhopal gas tragedy headed by Home Minister P. Chidambaram and had been under criticism for endorsing the proposal to free Dow from any liability regarding Bhopal.
The Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals had initially recommended the project (which involved the UNIPOL technology originally patented by the Union Carbide Corporation) for approval to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
However, in March 2007, The Administrative Ministry of the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, requested the DIPP to reconsider the approval and disallow any future investments by Dow Chemicals till the company meets the Government of India demand, pending in MP High Court, of depositing Rs.100 crore for the clean-up of the Bhopal gas leak site.
The request letter argued for reconsideration of the approval since “in view of the larger issues connected with the tragedy and widespread groundwater contamination, it has to be ensured that corporate entities own responsibility and take remedial measures promptly”.
However, the DIPP refused to reconsider the approval citing a six-month delay in response by the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals about any legal apprehensions the latter might have regarding the approval.
Interestingly, the Indian Oil Corporation in 2005 cancelled a similar technology transfer agreement with Dow chemicals following a sustained protest campaign from Bhopal activists.
The IOC had entered into an agreement to use Dow’s METEOR technology for its Mono Ethylene Glycol plant in Panipat. The agreement was cancelled after IOC found that the technology, claimed by Dow as its own, was still a Union Carbide patent.
UNIPOL, the technology to be used in the Reliance's Jamnagar plant, is also a Union Carbide Technology.
