Warning of an Enron-type scam, the CPI(M) politburo said: “If one misguided Enron project could sink Maharashtra State Electricity Board with its exorbitant costs"
NEW DELHI: Accusing the UPA government of entering into “clandestine deals” with US nuclear companies, the CPI(M) on Saturday said the underhand deals to buy reactors even before the 123 Agreement has been clinched, to the tune of about Rs3lakh crore, was to “bail out” the ailing American nuclear industry.
Quoting US under secretary of state William Burns as saying that India expressed its intention to purchase 10,000 mega watts worth of power from American firms, the CPI(M) politburo said: “This implied that India had put in around Rs280,000 crore to bail out the US nuclear industry that failed to secure any domestic order for the last 30 years.”
Warning of an Enron-type scam, the CPI(M) politburo said: “If one misguided Enron project could sink Maharashtra State Electricity Board with its exorbitant costs, such expensive imports of nuclear reactors can sink the entire power sector of the country.”
Expressing its strong opposition to “these underhand deals struck by the UPA government”, the party demanded a cost-benefit analysis by an independent body before key decisions regarding energy policy in the country are taken.
“The energy policy of the country should not be held hostage to the demands of the Indo-US nuclear deal,” it said.
The CPI(M) accused the UPA government for deciding to place orders with US nuclear power firms for supplying large number of nuclear reactors “without any debate in the country regarding the cost of such imported reactors, or the safety of their designs”.
Burns mention of India adhering to the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage “was of even greater concern” said the politburo as in case of a Bhopal-type disaster, the Indian government would have to take over all the liabilities from the reactor suppliers and operators.
“The nuclear reactors’ suppliers have demanded a no-liability regime for supplying equipment, which the UPA government seems to have accepted without any public debate,” the party alleged.
Maintaining that the N-deal had been “shrouded in secrecy, lies and half-lies”, the politburo said these have already been unravelled by the Presidential Determination submitted to the US Congress.
“Now it appears there is much more about this deal that the UPA government is hiding from the Indian people. Large purchases from US-based nuclear power companies have already been committed in a clandestine manner,” it said.
k_benedict@dnaindia.net 
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