Thaindian News

New Delhi, Aug 20 (IANS) Bowing to the demands of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the government Friday agreed to changes in the contentious civil nuclear liability bill in order to fix the liability of the suppliers for accidents caused by their negligence.
Minister of State for Science and Technology Prithviraj Chavan said the government has accepted the BJP’s demand and the necessary amendment has been made in the bill.

“We got a note of strong opposition from the BJP over clauses 17(a) and 17(b) and we have accepted their position. We are getting very large support across the party line and I hope we will be able to pass the legislation,” Chavan told reporters here.

BJP leaders, who had earlier backed the amendments, Thursday opposed a section of the bill. It claimed that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had changed the text agreed to by both the parties. The word “and” was inserted between clauses 17(a) and 17(b) in its original text.

The BJP said the insertion of the word “and” between the two clauses made the draft legislation biased in favour of the supplier, mainly the foreign companies, an euphemism for the potential American suppliers.

Chavan rejected allegations that the proposed civil nuclear liability bill is designed to benefit any particular country. “Some have expressed apprehensions that this bill was designed to address or benefit a particular country,” he said.

“It’s totally wrong. I deny it emphatically,” he said while underlining the need for building political consensus on the bill which seeks to compensate victims in case of an accident.

The cabinet Friday morning approved the recommendations of a parliamentary panel on the civil nuclear liability bill, Chavan added. The copy of the bill is with the Lok Sabha secretariat and it is likely to be tabled in the house Wednesday.

The cabinet meeting, presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, approved the panel’s recommendations that includes a suggestion for tripling the operators’ liability to Rs.1,500 crore.

The 31-member parliamentary standing committee on science and technology tabled its report in both houses of parliament Wednesday.

The panel recommended that while the government may increase the compensation cap, it should not decrease it under any circumstance. It also recommended doubling the period for victims’ claims to 20 years.

Chavan said 18 official amendments have been made to strengthen the bill.

“Another feature added to the bill is that the government can notify for no insurance required for a nuclear plant operated by a Public Sector Enterprise (PSE) and in that case it will be the government’s responsibility to pay the compensation,” he said.

The minister said that India is in talks with four companies from France, Russia and Japan for buying the nuclear reactors.

He said the government stands firm that private sectors will not be allowed to operate nuclear reactors in the country, but they can be minority partners.

Replying to a question on India joining the Convention on Supplementary Compensation (CSC), he said: “There is no compulsion for India to join the CSC and we will see later if it is required.”

“Joining the CSC will provide India access to international funds and moreover it’s a UN convention by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which India helped to draft,” he said.