The Assam OIL well fire is so massive that it is visible more than 30 km away
Guwahati:
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal today ordered a high-level inquiry into the circumstances that led to an oil well eruption in Oil India Limited (OIL) in the district of Tinsukia and a fire that killed two people.
The investigation will be led by Assistant Secretary General Maninder Singh and the report will be submitted within 15 days, a senior official in the office of the Chief Minister (CMO) told the Press Trust of India news agency.
“The investigation will also investigate the allegation of negligence on the part of certain officials of the company and its private well operator. It will find out who is responsible for this tragedy,” he said.
The investigation will try to find out how the whole tragedy unfolded and what steps should be taken to prevent such incidents from happening again in the future, said the CMO official.
Well No. 5 in Baghjan, in the district of Tinsukia, has been uncontrollably spitting gas for 16 days and it caught fire Tuesday afternoon, killing two OIL firefighters on the site.
The fire in the well is so massive that it can be seen at a distance of more than 30 km with thick black smoke rising for several meters, endangering the local biodiversity of Dibru-Saikhowa national park following the eruption from May 27.
The company and the Tinsukia district administration said they had evacuated about 7,000 people from areas near the Baghjan gas well to 12 relief camps.
Already two heads of the Public Sector Unit (PSU) Oil India Limited have been suspended for alleged negligence in their duties at the gas well site, while a notice of justification has been sent to John Energy Pvt Ltd, l outsourced private operator of the well.
A plea was filed Wednesday in the High Court of Gauhati against OIL, John Energy, the Center and the State for the eruption of the Baghjan gas well of Major PSU and the successive fires, which damaged lives and property In the region.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
