3 days before disaster,Union Carbide decided to ship plant to Brazil,says CBI

Three days before 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate (MIC) leaked from the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal,the parent company had decided to dismantle and ship the plant to Brazil or Indonesia....

Three days before 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate (MIC) leaked from the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal,the parent company had decided to dismantle and ship the plant to Brazil or Indonesia. In fact,a month prior to that,the parent company had directed that the factory be shut down,the CBI told the court of CJM Mohan Tiwari in Bhopal.

Since the Bhopal plant had incurred heavy losses,Union Carbide Eastern (UCE),Hong Kong sent a written directive to Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) in October 1984 that the plant be shut down. Between January and October 1984,the Bhopal plant had incurred a loss of Rs 5,03,39,000.

On November 29,three days before the gas leak,R Natarajan of UCE,Hong Kong,had received a telex from K S Kamdar,Vice President of Agricultural Products Division,Bhopal informing him about the preliminary cost estimate to dismantle and ship the plant to Brazil,keeping Indonesia as another cost effective alternative.

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The preliminary cost report,sent on October 26,1984 states that,since labour cost is low in India,the MIC plant in Bhopal could be dismantled and shipped oversees. The letter detailed that MIC facilities would be installed in Brazil and there was an equal opportunity that a carbamoylation facility would be installed in Indonesia.

Kamdar and Natarajan had been holding discussions for nearly 10 months.

According to the written submission made by CBI in court,it was evident that the continued loss,the decision to dismantle the MIC unit and its shifting to Brazil/Indonesia resulted in wilful negligence in maintenance of the existing unit of UCIL.

The CBI told the court that the Union Carbide Corporation was guilty of gross negligence because it had deliberately cut expenses and reduced manpower even in areas concerned with safety.