Kohima, June 28: Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio today spoke of the rights of the Nagas under Article 371-A of the Constitution with special reference to land and its resources.

He was addressing a consultative meet on “The rights of the Nagas on land and its resources” at the Heritage complex here.

According to the provisions of the article, land and its resources belong to the people and no act of Parliament can infringe upon this article, which gives special status to the Nagas, Rio said, adding that the article was a special safeguard to protect and preserve the Naga way of life, to acknowledge the people as owners of land and its resources. The Nagaland government and various organisations have voiced concern over infringement upon the article by the Centre.

Rio said the article confers authority to the Assembly to make the final decision on these issues. It makes the Nagaland Assembly the custodian of the Naga people’s rights and interest.

Rio said Nagaland is blessed with huge deposits of mineral resources, which, if properly exploited and utilised, could bring about an economic boom and prosperity to the people of the state. The Changpang oil field in Wokha district alone is estimated to have 20 million metric tones of crude oil. Oil extraction in the state began during the sixties but was discontinued because of various problems. Several efforts have been made since to resume the exploration but no substantive progress could be made.

Rio said the matter would be examined in depth by the cabinet sub-committee constituted in October 2009 with minister for planning T.R. Zeliang as the convenor.