PICTURE this. An entire oil and gas field, with its highly polluting oil and gas rigs, has been operating within sniffing distance of Assam’s highly eco-sensitive Dibru-Saikhowa National Park. The park, located across the Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts, was designated a Biosphere Reserve in July 1997. This park encapsulates the largest salix (of the willow genus) swamp forest in north-eastern India and is said to be a haven for many endangered species and is rich in its fish diversity.
There is more to the Baghjan oilfield which belongs to the government’s Oil India Ltd (OIL). It has no environmental clearance and benefited from the central government’s January 18 order which exempted all oil and gas firms conducting exploratory drilling from legal requirements for environmental clearances. Not that people of the area wanted it. There were public protests after the central government announced that OIL had been authorised to explore the area under Dibru-Sai - khowa National Park for hydrocarbons. These protests were stamped out.
Then, with an entire oilfield operating without any care for life and livelihood, forget flora and fauna, the inevitable happened. On a quiet morning (10.30 am) of May 27, Well No. 5 blew out. The sound was heard all around Baghjan village as well as in Tinsukia town, 12 km from the oilfield. It did not end with one blowout. According to local reports, natural gas kept gushing out of the uncapped wells and explosions continued. The well which blew (Well No. 5) and kept on leaking is barely 900 m from the biodiversity park, just off its buffer region. The rivers were polluted, plants and animals were affected and a large number of villagers have been displaced.
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