Guwahati: A massive fire broke out in the gaswell of Baghjan oilfield of Oil India Limited (OIL) in Assam’s Tinsukia district. A major blow took place on May 27 and has been leaking gas for the past 14 days, reported NDTV.
Top officials of Assam are supervising the situation and a National Disaster Response Force team has been deployed since the time of the leak to necessitate the relief operations.
At least 6,000 people living in a 1.5-km radius of the gaswell were evacuated and moved to relief camps. Oil India Limited announced financial relief of Rs 30,000 to each of the affected families.
Sources told NDTV on Monday, ‘Well Killing’ experts have been flown in from Singapore and joined the operation this morning. After the fire broke out, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Assam Chief Minister are in touch with each other about the untoward incident.
The mishap poses a great threat to the wetlands and biodiversity in the region. Reportedly, paddy fields, ponds and villages in the vicinity of the oilfield have been contaminated, while several small tea growers have expressed concerns about the layers of gas condensate in their tea gardens.
Earlier, local netizens had shared the images of gas condensate depositing in the Maguri Beel wetland, carcasses of endangered Gangetic dolphins and other aquatic life floating in the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park located barely three kilometres from the oil field.
