While questioning the provision of holding only the nuclear power plant operator liable in case of an accident, the Left parties on Friday suggested that the government increase the cap from the proposed Rs. 500 crore to Rs. 10,000 crore in the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill.
With the Bill being processed by the Standing Committee and likely to come up for consideration and passage during the current Parliament session, the government called the four Left parties, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India, the Revolutionary Socialist Party and the All-India Forward Bloc for discussions.
CPI(M) Parliamentary party leader Sitaram Yechury said the government should fix the liability at Rs.10,000 crore after D. Raja (CPI) suggested that since these plants were to be run by public sector undertakings, liability should be unlimited.
Maintaining that the second cap on the entire liability in case of a nuclear accident to be paid by the government and the operator was fixed at 300 million Special Drawing Rights, the Left leaders demanded that there should not be any ceiling at all on the entire liability.
They said the government should remove the reference to India joining the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage (CSC) saying a majority of the countries, including India's neighbours, had not signed or ratified it. The government argued that it found mention in the Statement of Object in the Bill and not a provision.
They argued that if India joined the CSC, the country would have to accept that foreign nuclear power equipment suppliers were not liable in case of an accident, and it would not be in national interest since only the operators would be liable.
Stating that the provisions of the current Bill, “virtually exempt” the foreign suppliers, they said liability should be fixed on these parties for supplying equipment that was either defective or faulty.
The government would respond to the issues raised by the Left on Monday.
