I endorse the Letter forwarded below.
Niloufer Bhagwat
----- Original Message -----
From: Sukla Sen
To: [email protected] ; [email protected] ;
[email protected] ; [email protected] ; [email protected]
Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 1:25 PM
Subject: [humanrights-movement:2464] CNDP Open Letter to the Prime
MinisterofIndia, and Ruling UPA Chairperson, Demanding Public Consultation on
'CivilLiability for Nuclear Damage Bill 2010'
In view of the Budget Session of the Parliament recommencing tomorrow
and the Union Government being reportedly keen to table the subject Bill, and
also push it through, if possible; the following letter is sent to the Indian
Prime Minister, with a copy to the ruling UPA Chairperson by the Coalition for
Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP).
Copies would be handed over to a number of MPs.
The letter is self-explanatory.
Sukla Sen
14 04 2010
To
Dr. Manmohan Singh
Hon’ble Prime Minister,
Government of India,
South Block,
New Delhi 110 001
Dated:
April 14 2010
Sub: Public Consultation on 'Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill
2010'
Dear Dr. Singh,
We the undersigned hereby express our grave concerns at the
implications of the 'Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill 2010', copies of
which have already been distributed to the members of the Parliament
The defining features of the Bill, as it appears, are as under:
One, it is an attempt to enact a law defining and tackling civil
liability for nuclear damage, which does not obtain as of now, to facilitate
participation of foreign players in Indian nuclear market.
Two, the Bill is also a move towards joining the Convention on
Supplementary Compensation (CSC) regime by enacting a law in alignment with
that.
Three, the Bill is a stepping stone to ensure entry of private players,
whether foreign or indigenous, as "operators", as had been demanded by the
FICCI in its June 2009 Report. And the Bill proposes to go way beyond the CSC
framework to roll out a red carpet for he prospective private players to assume
the mantle of "operator".
Our major concerns, in brief, are as under:
I. The entry of private players as "operators" is too dangerous given
the unique nature of nuclear power industry and its catastrophic potentials, as
chillingly illustrated by the Chernobyl Disaster on April 26 1986. The fact is
that profit maximisation is the very raison d'etre of a private enterprise
giving rise to the consequent innate tendency to cut corners in terms of safety
measures. Regulatory mechanisms can at best only “regulate”. Hence, the
envisaged ushering in of private players as “operators” of nuclear power plants
is an open invitation to disaster.
II. There must not be any overall "cap" on the quantum of compensation
to potential victims. That is too unjust and inhumane. (The CSC, by the way,
does NOT so obligate. Nor does it obligate entry of private "operators".) It
has to relate to the actual damages caused. The overall “cap” of 300 million
SDR, which works out to about 460 million US$, is even lower than the
compensation amount of US$ 470 million ratified by the Indian Supreme Court to
the victims of Bhopal Gas Disaster way back in 1989.
III. The Bill pegs the “liability” of the private “operator” at Rs. 500
crore per incident, with the further proviso to lower it down to even paltrier
Rs. 100 crore. And the state, i.e. the Indian taxpayers/citizens, will have to
pay, in case of an accident in a privately operated nuclear power plant, the
amount of “liability”, i.e. compensations for damages, exceeding the “cap” for
a private "operator" subject to the overall limit of 300 million SDR. (Even in
this case, The CSC does NOT obligate to peg the "cap" for the "liability" of
any "operator" any lower than 300 million SDR, which amounts to around Rs.
2,100 crore or 460 million US$. And while the CSC obligates that must be a cap
of 300 million SDR, it does not envisage any overall cap on the compensation to
be made available to the victims by a member nation.) This is evidently a
brazen attempt to favour private enterprises at the cost of Indian citizens.
Given such serious apprehensions and grave implications for the
country, you are hereby urged to desist from any attempt to enact the Bill
without detailed examinations of its various provisions. The Bill must be
opened up for wider and transparent public consultations, just not among the
parliamentarians, before any further step is taken to formally approve it.
Yours sincerely,
Achin Vanaik
ND Jayaprakash
Admiral (Rtd.) L Ramdas
Amarjeet Kaur
J Sri Raman
Sukla Sen
for the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP)
Cc:
Smt. Sonia Gandhi
Chairperson,
United Progressive Alliance,
10, Janpath,
New Delhi 110 011
Peace Is Doable
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