Parliament gave its seal of approval to the Petroleum and Minerals Pipelines (Acquisition of Right of User in Land) Amendment Bill, 2011, with the Rajya Sabha adopting it on Wednesday.

The Lok Sabha had passed it last week. The legislation is intended to curb the pilferage of oil and sabotage of pipelines by terrorists. It will serve as deterrence to the emerging security threats to the pipeline installations.

Replying to the discussion in the Rajya Sabha, the Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr. R.P.N. Singh said that death penalty is one of the measures contemplated under the amended Bill.

He said, the government will consider the suggestion for increasing the compensation to the farmers whose land will be used for laying for pipelines. He said the amendment to the Act was necessary to prevent pilferage of petroleum by organized gangs and saboteurs. The existing legal provisions were not enough to curb the malpractices.

The amended legislation provides for deterrent punishment to the culprits.

Mr. Singh said, in the last three years, 230 cases of pilferage and sabotage have been reported, mainly from Rajasthan and Haryana.

Village awareness programme and night patrolling of the pipelines has been stepped up. Continuous monitoring is done to check the thefts.

He said death penalty is one of the measures contemplated under the amended Bill.