Oil Pipelines Act passed in Parliament
Parliament on Wednesday passed an amendment to the Oil Pipelines Act by virtue of which an attempt to sabotage oil and gas pipelines would attract a maximum punishment of death sentence.
Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed the Petroleum and Minerals Pipelines (Acquisition of Right of User in Land) Amendment Bill, 2010, that provides a minimum of ten years' rigorous imprisonment for acts of terrorism on a pipeline. The Lok Sabha has already passed the bill.
The punishment “may extend to imprisonment for life or death” in case the act of sabotage is dangerous and likely to cause death of a person, the amendment states. The original act provided for a jail term of one to three years' for acts of sabotage and pilferage.
Intervening in the debate, former Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar suggested that the ministry should adopt latest technologies to locate the point of damage.
Rigorous imprisonment of up to 10 years and a fine has been assigned for sabotage to crude oil, petroleum product and natural gas.
Allaying fears that the onus of proving innocence might go against unintentional wrong-doers, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, R P N Singh said: “This will apply only for mafias and saboteurs.”
