Npower project

The 6,600MW project has hit a hurdle as Westinghouse Electric Company was supposed to build six nuclear reactors for it

on the nuclear power plant. Setting up of nuclear reactors will be done at a later stage,” he said.

Environmentalists, who have been opposing the nuclear power plants, want the deal with Westinghouse to be scrapped immediately. “As per the agreement, Westinghouse will bear a liability of only ₹500 crore in case of an accident in the nuclear reactors and the remaining loss has to borne by the Indian government. How can a bankrupt company pay this amount?” said Prof P Purushottam Reddy, noted environmentalist and former professor at Osmania University.

Sources in Andhra government said in the event of Westinghouse failing to fulfil its obligation of finalising the agreement with the NPCIL by June 2017 as scheduled, the US might rope in another firm, General Electric-hitachi, to take up the Kovvada plant. But the NPCIL authorities have refused to confirm this. “GE has not come up with any technical-commercial offer on Kovvada plant as of now,” Ramesh said. Andhra has already initiated the process of acquiring 2,071 acres in the “exclusion zone,” where the nuclear reactors will come up. It would displace 1,983 households with a population of almost 8,000 in five villages under Ranasthalam block that would fall under the nuclear protected zone.

It is cruel to separate a one-day-old child from a mother, the Supreme Court has said as it ordered a man to immediately hand over the eight-month old to his estranged wife and warned of penal actions if he failed to do so.

“You took away a newborn baby. How cruel can you be? You are not entitled to do so,” a bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar on Friday told the advocate representing the husband who moved the top court against the Punjab and Haryana high court’s order giving the child’s custody to the mother.

The SC was astonished to learn that the man had entered into an agreement with his wife while she was pregnant. Signed before the officials of Majitha police station, the document gave the child’s custody to the father in exchange of ₹18 lakh.

The man’s counsel told the bench that he had already paid ₹10 lakh to his wife. But, this did not go down well with the court.

“You take away the child under the guise of this compromise,” the bench told him, brushing away his arguments that the woman had given up the custody on her own.

The bench refused to set aside the high court order and questioned the man for being obstinate. “This order (of the HC) was passed a month back. It asked you to handover the custody forthwith. Why haven’t you done it?” the bench asked.

First, it had summoned the husband for a personal appear ance on Tuesday.

Later, the court withdrew the order after the lawyer said he would advise his client to follow the HC order.

Due to differences the couple agreed to part ways at a time when the woman was pregnant