Digboi: An excavator engaged in a township drain construction project exposed an illegal underground piped water pilferage late Monday evening at Digboi’s Borbil No. 2 in Assam’s Tinsukia district.
“At the site, we detected two illegal connections along with a valve that was channeling refinery water to the private residence of a former PWD engineer based in Borbil village under Digboi Police Station,” said a source.
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Upon receiving the information, a team from Assam Oil Division (AOD) Digboi Refinery, headed by the General Manager of Power and Utility Services, rushed to the site and sealed the illegal connections.
“The refinery operations nearly came to a halt for a day because of the sudden disruption in the water pipeline caused by the illegal tapping,” said a refinery official. “We had to manage the situation using our emergency water reservoirs.”
Local residents, including the village headman, addressing the media, alleged collusion between the accused and some former top AOD officials.
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“We informed the AOD Human Resource department earlier about this, but unfortunately, they ignored our complaint,” nearby residents alleged.
An AOD official confirmed, “We identified two individuals, Sayed Allaudin Dullah and Sayed Junit Dullah, from a family in Borbil who have been illegally drawing AOD piped water to their home by installing a valve on an active pipeline.”
“We will not only issue a show-cause notice but also file a legal complaint at the local police station,” stated a senior Digboi Refinery official.
Authorities have yet to take concrete action against the offenders as of the time of this report.
It is pertinent to note that a dedicated raw water pipeline, stretching about 15 kilometres, transfers treated water from the Nazirating plant to the Digboi Refinery and IOCL township through underground networks.
However, incidents of water pilferage by private residences across Oil Town Digboi are not new, even though AOD provides dedicated community taps for public utility.
The current AOD management is reportedly struggling to undo several entrenched malpractices encouraged by former officials, which could trigger public backlash if immediate corrective actions are taken.