More than 7,000 people from areas near the gas well have been transferred to relief camps
Gauhati:
Shortly after Assam’s chief minister, Sarbananda Sonowal, said that a group of experts would study the reported earthquakes in the Baghjan region, where last week a gas leak caught fire and killed two people, he met with senior scientists in his Janata Bhawan office today and asked them to start their work in an emergency.
Sonowal met scientists from the prestigious IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) in Guwahati and the CSIR-North East Institute of Science and Technology.
The Chief Minister announced on Sunday that subject matter experts would investigate the reasons for the repeated tremors around the blast and fire-ravaged areas.
He had visited the Baghjan region with Dharmendra Pradhan, the Minister of the Union for Petroleum and Natural Gas.
Today, when meeting with scientists, the Prime Minister drew their attention to the importance his government attached to the sanctity of the natural environment and urged them to submit a report to help take appropriate action. and urgent.
While experts from IIT and CSIR-NEIST will lead the study, Oil India Limited (OIL), which is involved, will provide all the necessary inputs.
Well number 5 in Baghjan had uncontrollably spit gas in the past 19 days until it caught fire in the afternoon of June 9.
The horrific fire, which is still burning, has led district authorities to ask the military to build a 150-meter bridge over an adjacent body of water so that the main operation to plug the well can be completed as soon as possible. as possible.
Currently, five investigations are taking place simultaneously – a three-member investigation by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, a one-member investigation ordered by the Chief Minister and an internal five-member investigation by OIL.
In addition, two crucial independent investigations of a technical nature are being carried out by the Directorate General for Mine Safety (DGMS) and the Directorate for Petroleum Industry Safety (OISD).
The chief minister also asked the additional senior forest conservator (wildlife) to study the environmental and ecological impact of the surrounding areas, including the flora and fauna in the adjacent Dibru-Saikhowa National Park.
