Government, OIL to compensate all affected in Assam gas well tragedy

TINSUKIA (ASSAM): Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday said people affected in Oil India's Baghjan gas well tragedy will be "adequately" compensated.

Pradhan reached Assam on Saturday to review the situation arising after a blowout and successive inferno that killed two persons.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbanandasonowal, who accompanied Pradhan to the disaster site and relief camps , said a model and a veterinary hospital, a higher secondary school and a skill development centre will be set up in Baghjan. "Today I announce that the Baghajan embankment will be constructed at a cost of Rs 27 crore," he said. "We will compensate all the affected people. Tea gardens, betel nut trees, fishes, houses and any other properties that have been damaged will be compensated in consultation with the Assam government," Pradhan told people living in a relief camp.

After visiting the well site, the Union minister said the Centre and the state government are trying for a permanent solution to the disaster so that it never recurs.

"Oil India is an Assamese company. It has been working here for many decades. Both the Centre and the state have constituted high-level inquiry committees. We will punish the culprit for this disaster even if he is a powerful man," Pradhan asserted.

The company and the Tinsukia district administration have moved more than 7,000 people from nearby areas of the gas well site to 14 relief camps. Sonowal said all the affected people will be compensated after a thorough survey by the administration.

The chief minister announced that a concrete road between Baghjan and Tinsukia city will be constructed. A women self-help group of the area will be provided financial assistance. "The MaguriMotapung wetland is Baghjan's property. Oil India will clean the wetland," he said. Sonowal said experts are trying their best to douse the blaze as soon as possible for rehabilitating the displaced people.