Jun 19, 2010

A tale of compensation payments by two companies - Union Carbide & BP

Bhopal accident that caused more than 15000 deaths and injuries to thousands of persons lead to payment of US$ 470 million (1997 ?) whereas oil spillage by BP in USA (2010) is leading to demands by President and his team to BP to keep aside of US$ 20 billion for cleanup, compensation, etc over a period of time. Had a Bhopal accident occurred in USA, it would have lead to its closure and go bankrupt. Such compensation awards show why companies earn huge profits at the cost of human beings in developing / underdeveloped countries. Many companies cry foul that countries like India cause lot of environment damage but nobody cares about ethics followed by the companies of advanced countries. It appears rules are different for different countries with least regard to deaths by organizations of advanced countries in other countries.