Nazira: Nearly three weeks after the capping of the gas blowout at Bhatiapar under Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC)’s Rudrasagar oilfield, spillage of crude oil from ONGC pipelines has severely affected hundreds of ‘bigha’s of agricultural land, livestock and fish habitat in the Mechagarh area of Assam’s Sivasagar district.
ONGC’s crude oil-bearing pipelines running through Mechagarh reportedly burst in at least three places recently, bringing misery to local farmers, exposing domestic animals to unknown diseases, and afflicting different types of fish found in the area.
Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge!
This being the growing season, locals are concerned that they are not going to have a good harvest as crude oil has continued to spread to their paddy fields. They are also worried about domestic animals getting infected with unknown diseases as a result of oil leakage from ONGC pipelines.
Moreover, they fear that the fish habitat has also been badly affected by crude oil leak in the area.
According to some residents of Mechagarh, bursting of ONGC pipelines during the summer in the area has been a common occurrence for some years. The affected people hardly get any compensation from the energy major.
A local farmer, requesting anonymity, said, “The ONGC pipelines here are not properly maintained. Sometimes ONGC people repair the pipelines after reports of crude oil leak in the area. But we have been facing the same problem year after year.”
Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge!