BP's $20 billion spill fund echoes in Bhopal justice cry

Indian activists seeking justice in the Bhopal gas tragedy, the world's worst industrial disaster, are accusing the United States of "double standards", saying it was punishing firms polluting American soil but ignoring their mistakes abroad. The Obama administration on Wednesday pushed oil giants BP Plc to agree a $20 billion fund to pay damages for a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that has threatened fishing and tourism and killed birds and marine life. That fund has ignited calls in India for Washington to show similar accountability for U.S. firm Union Carbide. Its Indian factory in Bhopal leaked a poisonous gas 26 years ago, killing 3,500 people. Activists say 25,000 people died in the immediate aftermath and ensuing years. Former chairman of Union Carbide, Warren Anderson, who lives in the United States, has been classified as an absconder in the case by an Indian court. The first convictions in the disaster came this month, a quarter century late, partly due to India's slow-moving justice system. The verdict -- 2 years jail and small fines for Union Carbide's seven Indian employees -- has sparked outrage in India. Activists of Bhopal Group for Information and Action (BGIA) said on Thursday while BP Plc was made to set up a damage claims fund within two months of the oil spill, victims of the Bhopal disaster have had no "real justice".