Bhopal did not figure up during CEOs Forum meeting in US

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Jun 23 (PTI) The ongoing Bhopal
controversy did not figure during the meeting of the Indo-US
CEO Forum here, which was attended by Indian Finance Minister
Pranab Mukherjee and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Several Indian CEOs, who attended the meeting, told
media that the Bhopal issue did not figure in the talks they
had at the State Department on Tuesday.
Finance Minister Mukherjee, who along with other
officials from India and the US, including Clinton, attended
the luncheon meeting with the CEOs said that the issue did not
appear at all.
As expected the Dow CEO Andrew Liveris did not attend
the meeting of the CEO Forum, of which he is a member.
In 1999, Dow Chemical Company bought the Union Carbide
Corporation which was responsible for the world's worst
industrial disaster in 1984 - the Bhopal Gas Tragedy.
Dow washed its hands of any liability for the tragedy
which occurred when toxic methyl isocyanate gas leaked from
Union Carbide India Ltd (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal,
Madhya Pradesh on December 3, 1984, killing about 15,000
people while injuring at least five lakh others.
Pepsico Chief Indra Nooyi also did not attend the
meeting.
A Dow spokesman said Liveris was unable to attend the
meeting because of his prior engagement. The spokesman
clarified that his absence from the meeting has nothing to do
with the Bhopal controversy.
Meanwhile, in an opinion piece in USA Today, Liveris
said that the US should launch an "advanced manufacturing
plan."
Manufacturing employs nearly 13 million people in the
US and 6 million in related fields. No other sector performs
more R&D, drives more innovation, exports as much or
contributes more to our nation's economy, he said. PTI