Status of the former UCIL Plant Site
The Bhopal plant closed after the 1984 methylisocyanate gas release and never resumed normal operations. While the Bhopal gas release litigation was in progress, no steps could be taken to remediate the site because the MIC unit was considered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as “evidence” in the criminal case. All activity at the site was closely monitored and controlled by the CBI, the Indian courts and the Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board (MPPCB).
Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) was finally permitted to undertake clean-up work in the years just prior to the sale of its stock by Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) in 1994, and spent some $2 million on that effort, which included beginning construction of a secure landfill to hold the wastes from two on-site solar evaporation ponds. The central and state government authorities approved, monitored and directed every step of the clean-up work. Following the sale, it appears that UCIL, now renamed Eveready Industries India Limited (EIIL), continued some clean-up work and completed the construction of the secure landfill on the site. In 1998, the Madhya Pradesh State Government, which owns and had been leasing the property to EIIL, cancelled the lease; took over the facility; and assumed all accountability for the site, including the completion of any additional remediation. Click here to view the MPSG press release.