PM to express India's concerns on US law on nuke deal

On Board PM's Special Aircraft, July 16 (UNI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said he would convey to US President George W Bush tomorrow India's concerns over ''certain aspects'' of the proposed American law to ratify the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Talking to reporters accompanying him on his three-day visit to St Petersburg to attend the G8 summit, Dr Singh, however, made it clear that the legislation would result in the grant of a ''permanent waiver,'' facilitating access to India to nuclear fuel, plants and technology for generation of electricity to meet the country's growing demand for power.

Though the Prime Minister did not specify what India's concerns were, New Delhi had expressed displeasure over the move to link the nuclear deal with placing a ban on nuclear tests by India.

The opposition, the Left parties and nuclear experts had warned the government that accepting the US condition would be worse than signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) which India had steadfastly refused to accept.

The waiver law has been okayed by the US Senate and House committees and is expected to be passed by the Congress later this year.

Dr Singh said that at his meeting with Mr Bush he would review the developments since his (Bush's) visit to India earlier this year.

''The progress of the legislation for granting permanent waiver in the US Congress and our concerns about certain aspects of that legislation which have already been conveyed to the US government at all levels...I will have an opportunity to discuss these matters with President Bush,'' he added.

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