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The Working Committee of the Naga National Political Groups (WC-NNPGs), a conglomerate of 7 extremist outfits, has opposed the statement among the Centre, Assam and Nagaland to resume lipid and state exploration on the disputed borderline betwixt the 2 States.
Nagaland is estimated to person 600 cardinal tonnes of lipid and earthy state reserves. Exploration successful the State, peculiarly on its resource-rich borderline with Assam, was halted successful the 1990s owed to extremism and absorption from section organisations.
A memorandum of knowing was signed successful New Delhi connected Thursday (June 11, 2026) to resume lipid and state exploration on the 512-km borderline shared by the 2 States. The statement was signed successful the beingness of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Nagaland counterpart Neiphiu Rio.
In a connection issued connected Friday (June 12, 2026), the WC-NNPGs referred to the Agreed Position signed with the Centre successful November 2017. The Agreed Position was an statement betwixt New Delhi and the WC-NNPGs intended to pave the mode for a imperishable colony of the “Indo-Naga” governmental issue.
The WC-NNPGs said a clause successful the Agreed Position provides that the Nagaland Tatar Hoho (Members of National Parliament) volition legislate connected the ownership and transportation of onshore and its resources, including mines, minerals, lipid and earthy gas, portion the governments of India and Nagaland volition jointly grip radioactive elements, which person nationalist information relevance and implications.
“This implies a post-solution Nagaland government, and unless the Indo-Naga governmental colony is officially signed crossed the table, immoderate effort to research earthy resources successful Naga areas anyplace is amerciable and against the agreed principles,” the WC-NNPGs said.
The conglomerate claimed that the disturbed country loop (DAB) was legally and historically portion of the Naga homeland. It said determination was nary crushed for Nagaland to stock its lipid gross with Assam erstwhile Assam had not shared its lipid gross with Nagaland for decades.
“Until specified clip (post-resolution of the governmental issue), the WC-NNPGs will, peacefully oregon otherwise, guarantee that nary company, nationalist oregon international, extracts crude petroleum reserves from the Naga soil. It would beryllium betrayal,” the conglomerate said.
India is seeking to trim imports by pushing for lipid and state exploration successful astir 1,000 sq. km of the DAB on the Assam-Nagaland border. The state imports crude lipid and earthy state to conscionable much than 88% and 50% of its home requirements respectively.
“Since Assam unsocial accounts for astir 22% of India’s crude lipid reserves and astir 15% of the country’s earthy state reserves, portion Nagaland possesses important hydrocarbon imaginable successful the Naga-Schuppen Belt of the Assam-Arakan Basin, resources wherever hydrocarbons travel people and those which person immense untapped resources, the outlook for E&P [exploration and production] activities successful the North East is truthful highly promising,” Mr. Puri said connected X.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Assam-Nagaland statement could assistance summation lipid accumulation successful the Northeast tenfold from the existent 1,000-1,500 barrels per day.
