Tough lessons learnt from the lapses in the Bhopal gas tragedy, the parliament’s standing committee on science and technology is treading cautiously on the Nuclear Liability Bill.
The proposed provision in the bill to cap the liability at Rs500 crore in the event of a nuclear disaster has been at the centre of an acrimonious political debate for sometime now.
Opposition parties like the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) have been opposing this bill, citing that the quantum of liability is low. After the Bhopal issue, where the Union Carbide Corporation, escaped with a light penalty after causing the death of 15,000 people in 1984, the debate has assumed some urgency.
Speaking to DNA after a marathon six-hour meeting on Tuesday, chairman of the committee Subbirami Reddy said: “We have been discussing the responsibility of the operator, in this case, it is the government. The issue of the responsibility of the supplier of nuclear equipment has not come before the committee so far.”
A number of chamber of commerce and industry bodies such as Confederation of Indian Industry, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and those connected with nuclear technology, secretaries to the ministries of law, home, science and technology and others made their presentations before the committee and explained their positions.
Reddy informed that the committee’s meeting would continue on Wednesday as well and another sitting would be held on June 23. Former Union external affairs minister and senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, a strong critic of the government’s policy on the nuclear issues, is expected to present his views before the committee.
The issue has generated a lot of interest among MPs cutting across party lines and more than 20 of the 30-member committee participated in the meeting on Tuesday. Srikumar Banerjee, secretary in the department of atomic energy, expressed regrets before the standing committee for circulating a note at the last meeting which contained a proposal for amending clause 17 (b).
This clause proposes that the operator would have legal recourse if a nuclear accident results from the “wilful act or gross negligence on the part of the supplier of the material, equipment or services, or of his employee.”
