Two weeks after big blowout in Assam, gas well catches fire
GUWAHATI: A gas well at Baghjan in Assam’s Tinsukia district caught fire on Tuesday and triggered protests from the residents of the area even as chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal assured them of their safety and said he has spoken to Centre for all possible assistance. The well caught fire as experts were trying to control the blowout, or leakage of gas and condensate, from it since May 27.
The blowout had prompted the evacuation of nearly 2,000 people living near the well to four relief camps. Plumes of smoke emanating from the well could be seen kilometers away from the site near the Dibru Saikhowa National Park and the eco-sensitive Maguri Mottapung wetland, which are home to endangered hoolock gibbons and Gangetic dolphins.
The residents staged a protest near the site and blamed Oil India Limited (OIL) for failing to control the blowout for two weeks. “We have been living in relief camps for two weeks now with the hope that the blowout would be controlled. But the fire has damaged several houses and hopes of any early solution. The night sky is lighted up by the fire and the air is filled with smoke,” said Madhab Moran, a resident of Baghjan.
OIL has asked the state government to control the situation so that experts and officials can reach the site to control the fire and the blowout. Three experts from Singapore firm Alert Disaster Control arrived to plug the leak on Monday.
“The fire broke out at 1.40 pm. The reason is not ascertained yet. Apart from a fireman of the
Oil and Natural Gas Commission, who sustained a minor injury, no one has been injured,” said OIL’s senior manager (corporate communications) Jayant Bormudoi. “There is no immediate threat to residents who have been shifted beyond a radius of 1.5 km from the well.”
An OIL statement said fire tenders have been pressed into service to control the fire. “The current situation would be brought under control by the experts,” it said. CM Sonowal said ,“Police, military, paramilitary forces, and NDRF [National Disaster Response Force] are present at the spot,” he said.
HT on June 3 reported the blowout was causing damage to biodiversity and wildlife.
“Release of particulate matter and the fire will affect Dibru Saikhowa National Park. But the damage to Maguri Mottapung wetland will be immense. If this continues for another four weeks, humans will also not remain unaffected... Despite a history of over 100 years of oil and gas exploration, we do not have the experts and equipment to deal with this emergency,” said environmentalist Raj Phukan, who is a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.