“ Are we waiting for Baghjan-2”; Recurrence of Oil India pipeline leakages in Assam raises alarm
Assam raises alarm
(Part-0ne)
It’s celebration time for the Rs 40,000-crore Oil India Ltd (OIL), the second largest Public Sector oil explorer of the country. Quite justifiable, probably!
Declining production, sagging efficiencies, and increasing expenditures notwithstanding; the company has sprung to the esteemed club of Maharatnas on August 4, 2023. Incidentally, it is the 13th state-run company which has attained this coveted position. So it’s the time to dance particularly at a time when there’s hardly anything to sing.
The gust of celebration often helps whiff off the clouds of unsavoury truths. Exactly three days before this August endowment, On August 1, the residents in Duliajan got a shockwave after a “terrifying pipeline leakage”, reportedly followed by an explosion triggering a panic button. ( NewsIP had reported the incident through its flash but inadvertently did a mistake in the name of the place (Tinsukia in place of Duliajan. We tender our apologies).
According to Oil India, it “was a minor gas leakage from the low-pressure domestic gas supplying line” and “there was no explosion.” The locals however claim that there was a massive explosion, which had also been widely reported in the local media. Although Oil India claims that it “responded quickly, closed the valve & stopped the leakage,” the residents were reported to have been gripped in panic and very distressed.
This is however not an isolated incident. The recurrent pipeline leakages, intermittent explosions, incidence of fire, loss of lives and properties continue to whiplash the very trust of the people, living in and around Oil India fields and installations in upper Assam.
On 8th March this year, there was another ‘uncontrollable’ gas condensate discharge from an OIL well at the Baghjan area in Tinsukia district that led the panicked people to scamper for safety.
Baghjan is still vivid in the memory of the people, for the worst-ever blow-out in well No. 5 of OIL that gobbled up three lives and continued uncontrolled for 90 days from 27th May 2020. “This is an indelible blot on the image of the company, which had to beg door to door for help and support. But then, when the condition reversed, the situation was back to square one, thanks to the insouciant management. This is an in despicable act of unaccountability,” says a retired OIL official.
On 9th March, the locals and several organisations filed FIRs against OIL for its callous and nonchalant attitude towards such a major safety lapse. The prominent organisations like All Assam Students Union (AASU) and All Assam Tribal Student Union (AATASU) have also reportedly taken up the safety issue with the OIL management time and again. “ But the management, it seems, is far from being focused and committed to resolve these safety lapses and it is quite unfortunate that it resorts to the haze of lies,” alleged a local student activist.
That the management tries to routinely brush the safety issues under the carpet is evident from the official communications, which all have a very uncanny resemblance. In the March incident at Baghjan, the official version was that a technical issue caused the gas leakage at a suction pipe on the surface level of the BGI well.
“ A technical glitch was detected as the well was being set up for production, which resulted in gas leaking. After sealing the well, the leakage was immediately stopped by technical specialists”, a corporate communications officer was quoted as saying. The same gentleman sent a mail to NewsIP as soon as the Flash news was issued on the August incident. It looks like a copy-paste communication, every time leakages happen and questions asked.
But, in spite of several reminders, NewIP failed to elicit any reply to its questions, that precisely pointed at the various incidents of leakages and explosions across major locations OIL operate in. ….To be continued…