Imkong Walling
Recently, there was a news report in one Assam daily in which the Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, was quoted reportedly asking the Nagaland state government to consider petroleum exploration in “undisputed” areas. As the northeastern (NE) states of Assam and Nagaland share a longstanding territorial dispute, it is assumed the Union Minister’s comment implied Nagaland starting oil exploration and production within the confines of the state that do not fall in the contested inter-state border, known in official parlance as the Disputed Area Belt (DAB).
The said DAB borders Golaghat, Jorhat and Sivasagar districts on the Assam side, while on the Nagaland side, it touches Niuland, Wokha, Mokokchung, Longleng and Mon districts.
The Minister’s suggestion would sound sensible to most. But what it lacks is comprehension of the ground situation and more importantly, sensitivity to the political and socio-cultural dynamics at play. What Puri must understand is that he holds office as a Minister of the Union Government, and by virtue of which, he is expected to refrain from making comments that would be detrimental to maintaining neutrality. His comment paints Nagaland in a poor light as if the state has been sitting idle not availing of an opportunity within hands reach.
Nagaland is believed to be sitting on top of petroleum reserves approximated to be 600 million metric tonnes, per an annual report of the Nagaland State Mineral Development Corporation Ltd (NSMDC), dating to 2010-11. The proven reserve has been tipped at 20 million metric tonnes at the Changpang-Tssori belt drilled by the ONGC during the 1980s and early 1990s.
As a former civil servant and now a politician, he must be well aware that there are genuine barriers that have been preventing the state from monetising its petroleum reserves, prominent among which includes a rigidly traditional land-holding system protected by the Constitution of India and a parallel political movement that views sub-surface mineral resources as a wealth for the future. It has had not only the state government but also individual land owners in a fix.
If the Petroleum Minister wants Nagaland to start drilling in undisputed sites, he must apply the same yardstick to Assam as well. As revealed in Parliament in July 2022, the neighbour has been unabashedly drawing oil from several oil fields falling in the DAB.
An ongoing legal suit, brought on by Assam, has not stopped the neighbour from drilling in the DAB, the action only serving to reaffirm a long held notion that it not only enjoys throwing its weight around, when it comes to border dispute with its neighbours, but also legal immunity.
It is not fair to always train the gun on Nagaland. The averred injustice is palpable not only in the wider Delhi-Assam-Nagaland relations, it is also reflected in the way a supposed neutral central paramilitary force is deployed to keep peace in the border belt between the two disputing states. Along the disputed border, the guns of the sentry posts conspicuously point easterly towards Nagaland.
The Minister’s comment sounds practical but only to people not familiar with the border dispute and the prevailing ground reality.
As for Nagaland, the state government’s predictable submissive stance in no way suggests any hopeful vibe.
The writer is a Principal Correspondent at The Morung Express. Comments can be sent to imkongwalls@gmail.com
