Make every effort to extradite Anderson: Cong to Govt

Congress on Wednesday said that the UPA government should make every effort to extradite Warren Anderson, the Chairman and CEO of Union Carbide when the Bhopal gas tragedy took place.

“Congress is of the firm opinion that the extradition process should be completed and he (Anderson) should be brought back. We hope government will take it to its logical conclusion,” Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan told reporters here.

She said the Congress wanted every step to be taken to ensure that the perpetrators of the world’s worst industrial disaster stand trial and people who were wronged receive justice.

Ms. Natarajan sidestepped several questions regarding charges against the then Congress government at the Centre and in Madhya Pradesh for granting safe passage to Anderson.

There have been successive governments at the Centre and in the state and these questions need to be asked of them as well, the Congress spokesperson said.

Days after the gas leak, Anderson was arrested and then released on bail by the Madhya Pradesh Police on December 7, 1984.

Anderson served as Union Carbide CEO till 1986, when he retired.