N-liability Bill: Committee to hold more meetings

Giving in to pressure from Opposition members,the Standing Committee on Science and Technology on Wednesday postponed deliberations on the Nuclear Liability Bill. The committee,which had earlier decided to hold clause by clause deliberations on the Bill on Thursday and then bring it before the Lok Sabha,has now decided to hold two more meetings on July 27 and August 2.

“A decision on holding clause by clause deliberations will be taken only at that point,” a member of the committee said. PK Iyengar,former chairman of the atomic commission who deposed before the Committee during Wednesday’s meeting,put on record his support for the Bill but reportedly sought an enhancement of the Rs 500 crore liability ceiling on a nuclear plant.

Senior officials including Health Secretary Sujata Rao,Agriculture Secretary P K Basu,Home Secretary G K Pillai and Labour Secretary P C Chaturvedi also deposed along with the Secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy,Srikumar Banerjee.

The committee members felt that there should be better coordination between the various ministries on the issue of nuclear safety. CISF chief N R Das briefed the Committee about security measures while NDMA member and former director BARC B Bhattacharjee apprised members of the post nuclear accident measures.