India to push US for extradition of Bhopal gas boss

India will pressure the US to extradite a former boss of the American chemical company Union Carbide over the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster.

The move follows public anger after seven former managers of the group's subsidiary, Union Carbide India Ltd, were convicted over the world's worst industrial accident. The gas leak at the Bhopal plant in central India killed 3,500 people within days and an estimated 15,000 in the years since.

Earlier this month, an Indian court sentenced seven executives of Union Carbide India to two years in prison for causing death by negligence and issued an arrest warrant for Warren Anderson, the former chairman of Union Carbide Corporation. "India will make vigorous efforts to get Anderson repatriated," the minister for urban development, Jaipal Reddy, said yesterday.

Mr Reddy is part of a nine-member panel set up this month to look into previous governments' handling of the accident and issues such as compensation for victims and the continuing pollution at the now abandoned plant.

India has made repeated, unsuccessful requests for Mr Anderson's extradition. Yesterday, the panel urged federal officials to use new evidence in support of an extradition plea, such as testimony that Union Carbide Corporation knew of defects in the plant. The federal cabinet will consider the panel's recommenations on Friday.

Union Carbide, now a subsidiary of Dow Chemical, paid a $470m settlement to India in 1989. It claims the issue has been resolved, Dow bears no responsibility for the leak and neither the parent company nor its officials are subject to Indian jurisdiction.

A spokesman for Dow said: "If there is any shortfall in compensation, it is to be borne by the government of India." AP