Arunachal Pradesh grants exploration licences to OIL

Itanagar: The Arunachal Pradesh government has granted licences to PSU Oil India Limited for exploration of petroleum resources in seven new blocks in the state, an official said on Thursday.

The state government has also given its permission to the company for exploration in the extended area of the Jairampur block in Changlang district, the official said.

Chief Minister Pema Khandu handed over the licences to the company's chief general manager Inderjit Baruah and his team.

In a meeting with Khandu in September, the officials of the petroleum major had urged the state government for early issuance of the forest clearances for the identified blocks so that it could obtain the environmental nod from the Centre to commence survey and exploration activities.

The company hailed the state government for completing the process of awarding licences within a short span of time, which enables Oil India to start exploration activities from this month.

The blocks awarded to the company are spread across Changlang, Tirap, Lohit, East and West Siang and Lower Dibang Valley districts.

Khandu requested the PSU to keep in touch with the local administration during exploration works so that people in the surrounding area of these blocks can be intimated about the projects in advance and precautionary measures can be taken, a CMO release said.

He also said that a part of the royalties, received from such projects, should be utilised for development and welfare of the local people and asked chief secretary Naresh Kumar to prepare a plan for this.

"Local people of the district where such projects are being taken up should be benefited," Khandu said.

According to the official, exploration in each block will be conducted in two phases.

"The total exploration period is for 8 years and each phase is of about 3 years with a provision for additional one year extension," the official said.