Dibrugarh, March 4: This far and no farther.

The Ulfa has drawn a laxmanrekha for the staff and contractors of the Oil India Limited (OIL) in the Manabhum hill range in Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh.

The outfit has also instructed them to keep blowing their vehicle horn from the time they enter the forest and up to the laxmanrekha.

In the wake of these dos and don’ts from the Ulfa, OIL has advised its men to be “extra cautious” while carrying out surveys in the thick jungle.

“The Ulfa has given very categorical orders that we should not go beyond Point 26 and also that we blow our vehicle horns as we drive through the forest to reach the point,” an official associated with the ongoing survey work said.

Point 26 is a conjunction of small routes used by the survey teams for their work like geological mapping and seismic survey.

The Ulfa has issued the blow horn order to distinguish between the vehicles of security forces and those of OIL personnel. It could also be that the outfit has drawn the laxmanrekha to prevent anyone from venturing further into the forest where militants may have set up camps.

A group of militants had recently cautioned a geophysicist, Bhupinder Singh, telling him that he should not cross Point 26.

“We have intelligence that some Ulfa cadre have moved inside the Manabhum reserve forest after the Bhutan crackdown,” a senior police official said. The Ulfa militants are being aided by the Arunachal Dragon Force, which is demanding an independent “Teola country,” including the entire Lohit district and the Sadiya sub-division of Assam’s Tinsukia district.

At present, three parties are conducting seismic and magneto-telluric surveys in the anti-clime north, south and central Manabhum hill ranges. The Hyderabad-based National Geo-Physical Research Institute is one of the survey parties.

OIL officials at the company’s headquarters in Duliajan, however, were reluctant to speak on the matter. “We will not be able to say anything,” an official from Duliajan said.

The Ulfa had been looking for safe bases in Arunachal Pradesh since the crackdown on its camps by the Royal Bhutan Army last year.

The outfit’s presence in the area was proved by the fierce encounter that took place a few days ago at Padumoni under Mahadevpur police station in Arunachal Pradesh. Four Ulfa members were killed in the encounter with the troops of the Rajputana Rifles.

Arunachal Pradesh home minister L. Wanglat, too, has confirmed the presence of Ulfa militants in its territory in a speech at the Assembly last week.

On the other hand, police have received copies of extortion letters served to businessmen and individuals by the outfit on its stationery in the Bordumsa sub-division of Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh.

The ties between the Ulfa and Arunachal Dragon Force are not new. While the Assam outfit provides arms to the Dragon Force, the latter returns the compliment by helping out with logistics for the Ulfa to keep its communication line with Myanmar open.

However, the Dragon Force suffered a serious setback last year when two of its top leaders were gunned down by the army.