Opposition unites against nuclear liability bill

With the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left parties having strong reservations over the nuclear liability bill, the central government faces an uphill task in getting the measure approved in Parliament this week.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is keen to secure Parliament's nod for the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill before he leaves for Washington around the middle of next month to attend a summit meeting on nuclear security.

Both House of Parliament will go into recess later this week to enable the Standing Committees to consider a number of bills and re-assemble on April 12 for the second part of the Budget session, which will continue till May 7.

The BJP and the Left parties do not want the government to rush with the bill. It has strongly pitched for the bill being referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee for consideration.

The bill, a key element of operationalise the landmark Indo-US nuclear deal, provides for compensation in case of a nuclear accident.

It pegs the maximum amount of liability in case of each nuclear accident at Rs 300 crore to be paid by the operator of the nuclear plant.

However, the draft bill also has provisions that would enable the government to either increase or decrease the amount of liability of any operator.

But it provides that the operator would not be liable for any nuclear damage if the incident was caused by "grave national disaster of exceptional character, armed conflict or act or terrorism.

"The BJP has serious reservations on the bill since it caps the liability of American firms," BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said noting, "we have the painful experience of the Union Carbide tragedy in Bhopal in 1984. The victims are still languishing and fighting their legal battle".

Voicing apprehensions of Left parties, Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Prakash Karat said, "We think the bill should not be brought in the present form. It is totally biased in favour of American companies, which supply nuclear reactors to India."

"It will be a big burden on the tax payers since the liability will be totally on the government," he said.