Digboi: Even as the Digboi refinery management under Assam Oil Division (AOD) is busy exploring avenues to cut costs, a glaring instance of mismanagement has been drawing public ire.
For the past eight months, a major leakage in the AOD piped water supply has gone unattended in Digboi’s NS Area, just behind the Women’s College hostel and barely 30 meters from the AOD water storage point.
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The leakage, reportedly spilling lakhs of litres of water daily, is part of a pipeline network that carries water sourced from the Nazirating Water Supply Department.
This extensive system spans nearly 9 km to supply the Digboi refinery and adjoining residential areas. Ironically, while the corporation spends multiple crores annually to maintain this network, a continuous loss of resources is being overlooked right at the doorstep of the refinery.
Residents allege that the AOD management, while holding repeated meetings to identify cost-cutting measures across departments, has failed to address this avoidable wastage. “We have approached employees at the nearby water storage and pump area several times, but our pleas have fallen on deaf ears,” said a local resident of NS Area while speaking to the North East Now on Monday morning.
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An aggrieved resident further complained that the continuous sound of water gushing out from the leakage has made life unbearable.
“For eight months we have been suffering disturbed sleep because of the water ejecting sound. It is beyond negligence now,” the resident lamented.
Local citizens say the unchecked leakage is not only an affront to financial prudence but also a reckless disregard for water conservation at a time when water scarcity is a growing global concern.
They have urged the AOD management to act swiftly and responsibly, warning that silence and inaction will only deepen the distrust between the administration and the community it serves.
Observers point out that such weak and faulty management, if allowed to continue, is sure to pull down the productivity of the British-era heritage refinery, which has been struggling to show profits over the years.
The refinery, despite being a symbol of India’s industrial legacy, is barely managing to exist amid setbacks.
At a time when prudent resource management could strengthen its viability, unchecked wastage and administrative apathy threaten to erode both its financial standing and its historic significance.