Ministry of Jal Shakti's notification for Nagaland is against the rights mentioned in 371(A): RPP

Calling for action rather than verbal promises, the Rising People’s Party (NPP) of Nagaland has urged the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) to man up and take a stand against the Ministry of Jal Shakti (Water) for a notification released by the department, warning ground water users, whether existing or new, to take permission from the Central ground Water Authority on or before September 30, 2022 or else action will be initiated against the violators by the respective department.

Slamming the Ministry of Jal Shakti, the RPP released a press communique stating, “This notification is alarming and unprecedented. If this order is implemented every tubewell, borewell, traditional wells will have to be registered with this central body, and permission sought for every extraction in the future.” 

“The state of Nagaland is still unable to extract oil and minerals despite the right guaranteed under Article 371 A, but this notification has made an absolutely mockery of our rights over “Land and its resources” and this cannot go unchallenged,” read the statement.

“While regulation of some sort is required, there’s no doubt that it should be under the purview of the state government, and therefore, the Rising People’s Party opposes tooth and nail this illegal notification. The general public is warned that NONE should submit to this central directive because there’s the larger issue of constitutional rights involved as guaranteed under Article 371A,” read the press statement further. 

Simultaneously, calling the NDPP’s plan of merger with the BJP as a haste decision, the RPP further states in the communiqué, “Recently, on the issue that the NDPP is merging into the BJP, the NDPP pooh-poohed and countered the RPP crowing that it stands for regionalism. It’s time the NDPP man up and put one’s money where one’s mouth is. This is the time for Facta Non Verba.”

The RPP has urged the NDPP led UDA government to undertake its course of action against the notification released by the Ministry of Jal Shakti, calling the notice “illegal and against the ethos of the Article 371A and thus cannot be implemented.

“The NDPP should also tell the BJP government in the Centre that even laws passed by the Parliament of India shall NOT apply to the state of Nagaland unless the Legislative Assembly of Nagaland so decides, and therefore a mere notification of a Ministry is null and void,” added the RPP’s statement.