By IANS,
New Delhi: There seems no let up in the political standoff over the key civil nuclear liability bill as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Left Saturday made it clear that they won’t allow the government to table the legislation in parliament.
The vehement opposition at a conclave here against the legislation that seeks to set up a legal mechanism to ensure that victims of a nuclear accident are able to claim financial compensation from the operator, made it obvious that the government will have a tough time over the bill in parliament when it resumes April 15 for the ongoing budget session.
Senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi questioned the government’s intention over the key bill, asking why the government was rushing with the bill even as Congress’ Manish Tewari reiterated that the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) had no intention to open the atomic sector for private players – both domestic as well as international.
“What is your intention in bringing out this bill?” Joshi asked, ruling out the possibility of his party changing its stand on the matter.
Supporting Joshi at the round table on the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill, 2010, organised by Greenpeace was Communist Party of India’s D. Raja.
“You are succumbing to US pressure,” Raja said, adding, “It is okay for you but don’t ask us to succumb to the pressure.
“We won’t do that and it is our democratic right to stop you from introducing the bill,” Raja told Tewari who had earlier said it was everybody’s right to have a view over the issue “but such things should be discussed in parliament”.
Joshi said the government had no answer to the “on why the bill now” – the question that was put to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s emissary, National Security Adviser (NSA) Shivshankar Menon when he met top BJP leaders in an effort to break the deadlock.
Joshi also questioned the the bill capping the the liability in case of a nuclear accident at Rs.500 crore.
The victims can also claim Special Drawing Rights (SDR) up to a maximum of 300 million SDRs (Rs.2,200 crore) if the damage is assessed to be more than Rs.500 crore. But in the case of India, the government being the operator itself has to bear the liability costs.
“It is simple. I, as a tax payer, will have to shell out the damage costs. I am a victim and I am paying myself for the damage,” Joshi said.