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From: jalote@uiucdcsb.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.nlang.india
Subject: News bullitin
Message-ID: <141700005@uiucdcsb.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 14-Feb-85 10:23:00 EST
Article-I.D.: uiucdcsb.141700005
Posted: Thu Feb 14 10:23:00 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 16-Feb-85 05:39:21 EST
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Nf-ID: #N:uiucdcsb:141700005:000:9716
Nf-From: uiucdcsb!jalote    Feb 14 09:23:00 1985


I recieved the following news items from a friend of mine, following some
convoluted route. I am posting it here, as it is of interest to all Indians.
Will the original author please claim them, by putting a small response?
I suggest that in future such (very useful, I may add) notes be posted in
this notesfile.  If the peole who wrote these feel that such items should be
distrbuted by mail, can I be added on the mailing list? Thanks.

Our host name for usenet and csnet is "uiucdcs"; for Arpa it is "uiuc".

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I. In a series of articles during this week, the New York Times has
concluded that the deadly gas leak at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal
on December 3 which killed over 2500 people and injured over 200,000
was the result of operating errors, design flaws, maintenance failures
and training deficiencies. The reports are based on a seven week
inquiry by the reporters of the newspaper following the leak of methyl
isocyanate. The inquiry involved more than 100 interviews of present
and former employees of the Union Carbide India Ltd.,  company
technical documents, the Indian government's chief scientist in Bhopal,
New Delhi, Bombay, New York, Washington, Danbury Connecticut, and
Institute, Virginia. The investigation produced evidence of at least 10
violations of the standard procedures of both the parent company and
its Indian subsidiary.

According to the Times reports, executives of the Union Carbide India
are reluctant to address the question of the responsiblity of the
tragedy. The plant's manager declined to discuss the irregularities.
When questioned about the shortcomings disclosed in the inquiry, a
spokesman of the Union Carbide, USA characterized any suggestion of the
accident's causes as speculation and emphasized that the Union Carbide
would not contribute to that speculation.  One of the reports also
discussed the relationship between the parent company and its
subsidiary indicating that the parent company essentially enjoyed full
control over the management and operations of the subsidiary in India.

One of the reports in the New York Times said that the stage of
disaster was already set in the Bhopal Union Carbide plant prior to
December 2 as a result of a number of violations of safety
regulations.  According to this report which is based on interview of
the workers, (i) a refrigeration unit designed to keep the lethal
methyl isocyanate cool and nonreactive had been shut off and the
chemical was warmer than allowed by the plant's operatign manual, (ii)
two of the plant's major safety systems to handle escaping gas - a gas
neutralizer and a flare tower to burn it off - were not designed to
withstand pressure anywhere near that of the gas during the accident,
(iii) a water spray system was not high enough to reach and contain the
escpaing gas, and (iv) the ill-fated tank had been overfilled with the
consequence that the pressure would rise faster in an accident.
Already, there were more than half a dozen violations of plant
procedures; more were to occur during the accident itself.

In addition, workers and operators in the plant were not cautioned
about the devastating nature of the methyl isocyanate gas. Most workers
and operators knew that the gas caused skin and eye irritation and that
few people could die if there was a major accident but they were never
aware that it could result in a worst industrial disaster of human
history. There were no preventive measures or public education programs
undertaken by the company for its workers, public officials, not to
mention those who lived around the plant.  Staff and training had been
reduced and important instruments including pressure gauges were
unreliable. A cost-cutting program was also jeopardizing safety.

In a related development, JB Browning, Vice President of health, safety
and environmental affairs of the Union Carbide said that the report of
the safety inspection of the Viriginia plant which had warned of a
possibility of a runaway reaction and a massive leak of methyl
isocyanate from a storage tank was not shared with the Bhopal Union
Carbide plant. It had been revealed last week by the House Energy and
Commerce Subcommittee on Health and the Environment Chairman
Representative HA Waxman that a safety inspection report of the
Virginia plant had warned of a possibility of the kind of accident that
resulted in the leak of methyl isocyanate gas in the Bhopal plant in
Septemeber, three months prior to the Bhopal accident. Following the
disclosure of this report by the House subcommittee, the Union Carbide
management had called the possibility of such an accident as being
totally hypothetical.

According to Browning, plant management at Institute had given an
immediate attention to the report and a simple change in the operating
procedure had completely eliminated the concern. He also aded that
there was no reason to share the report with the Bhopal plant because
different devices were used to cool the tanks at the two facilities.

Brownings's understanding is apparently in contradiction with the House
subcommittee's information that the two plants had the same designs and
the same procedures.

Meanwhile the Union Carbide announced that 61 leaks of the MIC had
taken place from the Institute plant since January 1, 1980. This was 33
more than the number reported by the Environmental Protection Agency.

II. At least 2717 people were killed in nationwide violence directed
against Sikhs following Mrs. Gandhi's assasination. Out of this, 2146
were killed in New Delhi alone. The parliament wast told this by
Minister of State for Home Affairs Ram Dulari Sinha recently.

Over two months ago, the then home minister PV Narsimha Rao had said
that 1277 people had been killed in the riots out of which 651 deaths
occurred in New Delhi.The new figures are more than double nationwide
and almost three times those in Delhi. In their report based on an
independent inquiry, the two civil liberties bodies People Union for
Civil Liberties and People Union for Democratic Rights had estimated
that over 2000 people had died in New Delhi.

According to the minister, property worth Rs 500 million was destroyed
in 15 states where the violence erupted.  This figure does not include
the damage in New Delhi which the authorities said that they have not
been able to fully assess yet.

After New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh was the worst affected with 203 deaths
and the property damage estimated at Rs 250 million. The minister also
said the the families of those killed in the riots  had been paid
compensation of Rs. 10,000 by the governement and those injured had
received Rs 1000. The minister did not indicate whether the goverbment
had any plans to set up an independent inquiry commision into the
causes and imact of violence. Such an inquiry has been demanded by the
Sikh community, sections of the media, and the two civil liberties
organizations PUCL and PUCR as Congress(I) involvement has been alleged
in the violence.

On January 21, members of the All India Sikh Conference marched to the
parliament wearing black clothes and demanding an early solution to the
Punjab problem, assurance of their saefty and a judicial inquiry into
the riots in New Delhi.

Recently, a report by the Sikh temples Management Committee has accused
that the government and police had instigated the violence. The report
called the violence as a black blot on the country's forehead which
cannot be removed easily.

III. Prof. MGK Menon and Prof. CNR Rao have been named for the Padam
Vibhushan awards. 21 Padam Bhushans have been awarded; among those is
included a classical singer Pandit Bhimsen Joshi.  Movie stars
Naseerudin Shah and Smita Patil, sprinter PT Usha, trade unionists Ela
Bhatt and AN Buch of Ahmedabad, Punjabi folk singer Asha Singh Mastana
are among the 44 named for Padam Shri.

IV. Leaders from six countries, Argentina, Mexico, Tanzania, Greece,
Sweeden and India called on Jan 28 for an all-embracing halt to testing
production and deployment of nuclear weapons and prohibition of outer
space for such weapons. In a joint statement, Argentina's President
Raul Alfonsin, Mexican President Miguel de la Madrid, Julius Nyerere of
Tanzania, Prime Ministers of Greece, Sweeden and India, Andreas
Papandreou, Olof Palme and Rajiv Gandhi affirmed their determination to
facilitate agreement among nuclear states saying the future of all
peoples is at stake. The four page declaration warned that a holocaust
awaited mankind and that over the last 5 decades, every nation and
every human being has lost ultimate control over their own life and
death.

The meetings urged the five nuclear weapons states United States,
Russia, Britain, France, and China - to immediately halt the testing of
all kinds of nuclear weaopons and to conclude a trearty on a nulcear
weapons test ban.  According to the declaration, such a treaty will be
a major step towards ending the continuous modernization of nuclear
arsenals. It also urged that instead of spending the resources on the
arms race, it is urgently necessary to transfer precious resources
currently wasted in  military expenditures to social and economic
development.

V. Indian government has announced that France has recalled its
ambassador to India.  An Indian spokesman refused to give any reasons
why the Ambassador Serge Boldevaix was asked to return to Paris. But
according to the New York Times, Indian sources said that the
Ambassador was held responsible for the conduct of the ousted diplomat
Lieut. Colonel Alain Bolley who has been linked with the espoinage
scandal.

Sources: India Now, India Abroad, the New York Times