Ministry wants 10 years term to check oil pilferers

Faced with growing incidents of “anti-social elements”, including organised gangs, puncturing the oil pipeline network in many parts of the country to pilfer oil and gas, the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gases is working on a legislation that would entail prison term up to 10 years to anyone found guilty of tinkering with the pipeline.

The Ministry’s proposal also says that anybody who tinkers with the pipeline through the use of fire or explosives, knowing fully well that such an act can cause death or serious injury to any person, shall be punishable with death or life imprisonment.

The Petroleum Ministry’s data reveals that pilferage from pipelines is most prevalent in Assam, Gujarat and Rajasthan.

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Huge haul of animal parts in Assam

A joint raid conducted by the police and Sashastra Seema Bal(SSB)at Gossaigaon in Kokrajhar district in Western Assam on Wednesday yielded around 630 deer antlers, indicating the presence of a major racket dealing in animal parts in the region. Nearly 3,000 kg of red sanders was also recovered in the raid. No arrests, however, were made in this connection.

The raid was carried out in Brahma Industries, a saw mill that had closed down several years ago following a Supreme Court ban on tree-felling in the North eastern region in 1996.

Gossaigaon sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Dambaru Dhar Hazarika said the raid initially led to the recovery of a sackful of antlers, but the police soon found more antlers, some intact, mostly broken, hidden under saw dust within the saw mill compound.

The police also used SSB’s sniffer dogs to conduct the raid. “While we discovered about 630 pieces, big and small, of deer antler, we also hit upon a consignment of neatly-cut wood which initially looked like red sandalwood,

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My state calm, give me Rs 500 crore peace bonus: Arunachal CM to Centre

Peace is rare in the North-East,soon estate has demanded that it should be rewarded for maintaining it. Earlier this week, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu sought Rs 500 crore as peace bonus from the Centre for the continuing calm in his state.

Khandu met senior Central ministers to tell them there were no local militant outfits operating in Arunachal, unlike neighbouring Assam and Nagaland.

Khandu’s plea found resonance in the ministries of Home and Finance, and it has been decided to set up an officers’ committee headed by Secretary (Expenditure) to ascertain the state’s revenue generation and shortfall to be funded.

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