Washington: The controversial nuclear
liability bill, which is stuck in a political quagmire,
figured in talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US
President Barack Obama with the latter hoping that it will be
"expeditiously" passed by the Indian Parliament.
Singh, who met Obama on the sidelines of the nuclear
security summit yesterday, told him that the bill was going
through the democratic processes.
Both leaders also expressed happiness over the conclusion
of the agreement on reprocessing under which India will set up
at least two facilities under IAEA safeguards to reprocess
spent American nuclear fuel.
The Agreement on Arrangements and Procedures for
Reprocessing, which was one of the crucial last steps for
implementation of the Indo-US civil nuclear deal signed in
October 2008, was reached last month after eight months of
negotiations.
The introduction of the Civil Liability for Nuclear
Damage Bill was deferred by the government on March 15.
"The President did refer to the pending Civil Nuclear
Liability Bill and expressed the hope that this could be
concluded as expeditiously as possible," Foreign Secretary
Nirupama Rao told journalists in her briefing on the talks.
The bill that seeks to limit the liability of a nuclear
power plant operator at Rs 500 crore in case of an accident
has turned out to be a political hot potato.
The passage of the bill, which is another key step in the
implementation of the nuclear deal, has got caught in a
political storm with opposition parties objecting to certain
provisions in it, including the use of word `cap` for Rs 500
crore compensation to be paid by the operator in the case of a
nuclear accident.
The government has indicated its readiness to make some
changes in it and the bill is expected to be introduced in
Parliament in the second part of the Budget Session starting
Thursday.
-PTI
