Mokokchung, November 4 (MTNews): The Rising People’s Party (RPP) while maintaining that it is not against exploration and extraction of petroleum and natural gas in Nagaland has, however, pointed out two particular issues of concern — one is, exploration and revenue sharing in the DAB; and the other is exploration and extraction within Nagaland proper.
“As per news reports, Nagaland has received an indication from the Assam government to equally divide the proceedings of petroleum exploration and extraction between the two states along a few sectors of the Disputed Area Belt (DAB),” the RPP noted. In this respect, the RPP said that the State Government is obligated to be transparent and accountable and raised a set of questions.
The RPP asked the Nagaland government how much is Assam government’s revenue from oil extraction in sector A, B, C, D, E and F falling along the DAB till date.
“Since Assam has been extracting petroleum along the DAB for several decades, will Nagaland get the accumulated share of revenue due to it?” it also asked.
Further, the RPP questioned if the proposed MoU is on a 50:50 share basis and whether Nagaland will still go ahead with the MoU if Assam insists that the sharing formula is to be restricted to sectors A, B, and C only.
With regard to exploration within proper Nagaland, RPP stated that oil and mineral resources falls under the ambit of Article 371 A. “However, as per the Nagaland Petroleum & Natural Gas Regulations and Rules 2012 the RPP is bewildered by the myopic conclusion in fixing the state’s share of profit at a meager 16% minimum for petroleum and 12% minimum for natural gas,” it said.
The RPP said that the state’s share in this case should not be less than 50%. “If the state government goes ahead with the 16% profit formula, then the RPP can only conclude that the present dispensation has an ulterior motive,” it added.
The RPP further cautioned that until this percentage is rectified, the government of the day should not hastily sign any memorandums and agreements with any entity.