Guwahati: The Nationalist Congress Party declared on Tuesday that the Nagaland government’s initiative for oil exploration with the Assam government and the following decision to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the same will help in the development of money and employment in the state.
The Naga People’s Front (NPF) was criticised by the NCP for placing unnecessary obstacles in the way of the state government’s attempts to promote economic growth in the region. The NCP asserted that the NPF’s reference of the Naga political issue in the context of oil exploration is entirely different.
The Naga Political Groups especially the Naga People’s Front have criticised the state government of Nagaland for undertaking mineral exploitation on the unsettled and unresolved boundary areas while objecting to the oil exploration MoU signed between Nagaland and Assam.
The NNPGs described the industrial exploration as being protected by Naga political and historical sacredness and referred to the agreement between the two states as merely a stop-gap measure.
NPF leader A Kikon said, “NNPGs have the right to make an opinion. Objecting without knowing intent may be hasty”.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma met his Nagaland counterpart Neiphiu Rio in a one-to-one discussion to resolve the long standing border row between the two neighbouring states.
Nagaland CM Rio further disclosed that both states have decided in principle to go ahead with an MoU on oil exploration in the disputed areas along the inter-state boundary so that oil can be extracted and royalties shared between the neighbouring states.