BJP backs nuclear liability bill as concerns taken onboard

New Delhi: Hectic parleys with the principal opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on the issue of the civil nuclear liability bill would appear to have yielded results for the ruling coalition at the centre, the UPA, and the Congress party in particular with the BJP indicating that it would not be averse to letting the bill make its passage through the Lok Sabha.

Amongst other things, the reworked bill will shut out private players from the nuclear sector and ramp up the ''no-fault" liability from Rs500 crore to Rs1,500 crore.

Taking the BJP's concerns on board the Congress has ensured passage of the bill in this session itself, comfortably ahead of US president Barack Obama's visit to India in November.

Passage of the bill through the Parliament is necessary to operationalise the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Left parties, not surprisingly, remain outside the consensus loop submitting dissent notes at a meeting of the standing committee examining the bill on Tuesday afternoon. The compromise with the BJP will save Congress the bother of having to kowtow to smaller parties like the SP, the BSP and the RJD in order to get their support.

Taking the BJP's concerns onboard the reworked bill will now ensure that nuclear power plants in the country will be run only by the government or government-owned companies. The first stage liability would be Rs1,500 crore and will also be subject to periodic review.