New Delhi, Aug 18 (IANS) The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day Wednesday over illegal mining and allegations that the government and the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party had struck a deal over passing the contentious civil nuclear liability bill.
As soon as the house reasembled at 12 noon after its first adjournment, opposition members were on their feet, with the Bahujan Samaj Party demanding the dismissal of the Karnataka government over illegal mining and the Left parties, the RJD and the LJP alleging a deal between Congress and the BJP over the nuclear liability bill.
Quoting from a newspaper report that no charges had been framed against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the 2005 Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake shootout, the Left parties, along with the RJD and LJP alleged that the Congress and BJP had struck a deal over passing the nuclear liability bill.
Amidst the din, Deputy Chairman K. Rahman Khan adjourned the house for the day, but not before the report of the parliamentary standing committee on science and technology on the nuclear bill was tabled in the house.
The report is believed to recommend that the liability cap on a nuclear plant’s operator in case of an accident be tripled to Rs.1,500 crore from that provided in the bill.
Members from the RJD and the LJP later staged a protest in the parliament complex alleging that the government and the main opposition had unified.
‘Congress and BJP are one. This is a deal to pass the nuclear liability bill,’ LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan said.
‘(Amit) Shah is in jail, how is it possible that he is involved and the chief minister did not know anything,’ asked Ram Kripal Yadav of the RJD, referring to the arrest of the former Gujarat minister of state for home for his alleged role in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh killing.
Among the other changes recommended in the nuclear liability bill are a new clause making it clear that the bill will only apply to nuclear plants owned and operated by government, increasing the compensation claim period from 10 to 20 years and the setting up of a nuclear liability fund along the lines of a similar fund in the United States.
The government wants the bill to be passed in the current session of parliament that concludes Aug 31 so that the law is in place before the November visit of US president Barack Obama.
