Opposition’s concerns on n-liability bill addressed: Chavan

NEW DELHI - The government has taken on board the amendments proposed by the opposition parties to the civil nuclear liability bill, Minister of State for Science and Technology Prithviraj Chavan said Wednesday.

“I am very happy to consider the nuclear bill today, which culminates the journey which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took in July 2005,” Chavan said.

Chavan was speaking in the Lok Sabha before moving the draft legislation, with amendments, that has been a subject of fierce wrangling between the government and the opposition.

The bill is likely to be passed by the house later after a discussion.

“We have brought new amendment to clause 17. We have agreed to the (concerns of) principal opposition party, the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) and the Left parties,” Chavan told the Lok Sabha while moving the bill.

Referring to “some concerns of the Left parties”, the minister said: “This is not to help any particular country…we want to expand our choice to get the best deal…Therefore, it is certainly not to please any particular country.”

He said the government has tried to take on board views and concerns of all parties by bringing 18 amendments which have strengthened the bill that was introduced and referred to a parliamentary panel in May this year.

“We had agreed to the BJP’s concerns and raised the cap on liability from Rs.500 crore to Rs.1,500 crore, which is the same in the US, which itself is a 60-year-old nuclear industry,” said Chavan.

The minister said that the government and opposition have reached “unprecedented consensus”. “There was a slight confrontation but we have bridged our differences,” he said.

“There were fears regarding the laws to face a tragedy like that of Bhopal gas disaster, I would like to assure everyone that all laws will remain intact and in place to meet such an accident,” he said.

“We have seen what happened in Bhopal. This is to ensure that victims don’t have to run from pillar to post for compensation,” he said.

The minister admitted that the foreign suppliers may fear that that laws are too stringent, “but let me assure you that they are in accordance with the international laws that are in place elsewhere”.

Stressing the eco-friendly nature of nuclear energy, Chavan said: “If we are to produce 10,000 MW using solar energy, we would need around 20,000 hectares of land whereas a nuclear energy plant will take only 600 hectares.”

Providing another comparison, he said: “To produce the same amount of energy using coal, we’d need a shipload of coal - and imagine the fumes and waste coming out of it everyday. Nuclear energy, on the other hand, only needs 360 tonnes of uranium.”