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India’s nuclear liabilty Bill designed to protect Westinghouse and General Electric

“What Westinghouse and General Electric want is that even the limited liability that accrued to the Union Carbide in the case of Bhopal [$470 million as per the settlement approved by the Supreme Court] should not fall on them.”

Bill meant to safeguard U.S. firms, says Karat, The Hindu , 17 June 2010, NEW DELHI: The Manmohan Singh-led government is under pressure from Washington on the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill and the proposed legislation bears the handiwork of the U.S. nuclear industry lobby.

Hence it must be scrapped.This was stated by Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat in the latest edition of the party organ, Peoples’ DemocracyHe said both the bill, which is being scrutinised by a parliamentary panel, and the Bhopal episode brought out some class truths and underscored need to draw lessons from the 1984 gas tragedy.“If there are lessons to be learnt from the tragic episode of Bhopal, it is that there should be strict laws, which will assign civil liability and ensure that criminal liability is also pinned down. There can be no compromise with the lives and safety of the Indian people to appease the commercial interests and profits of foreign and Indian big business. The first step towards ensuring this will be to scrap the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill,” he said…..

The bill, he said, was meant to safeguard the interests of the U.S. companies that would supply reactors to India. In the event of a nuclear accident, they were to be exempted from any liability to pay compensation for the damage caused.

“What Westinghouse and General Electric want is that even the limited liability that accrued to the Union Carbide in the case of Bhopal [$470 million as per the settlement approved by the Supreme Court] should not fall on them.” The Hindu : Front Page : Bill meant to safeguard U.S. firms, says Karat

June 17, 2010 - Posted by Christina MacPherson | India, secrets,lies and civil liberties | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, radioactive, reactors, uranium, Westinghouse