Assam: Two years after oilfield disaster, bitter harvest in Baghjan

Tinsukia: In the middle of a wet pre-monsoon spell that hit Assam and neighbouring states last week, Ritu Chandra Moran, a resident of Baghjan village in Doomdooma district of Assam wanted to try his luck by planting kosu (taro) saplings in his farm. He tried growing paddy and maize earlier. The maize crop withered away prematurely and the cucumbers came out stunted. 

On that rainy morning, he had barely dug a few inches when oil slick oozed out of the hole meant for the stout Kosu tubers – considered as a cheap source of nutrition for humans and cattle. Moran was desperate to turn his land productive after two years since a devastating blowout in an oil rig that spewed contaminants on his land. In the peak of the COVID 19 pandemic, the rig operated by the Indian government owned Oil India Limited (OIL) experienced a blowout on May 27, 2020 releasing vast amounts of condensates into the water bodies and farms near the rig. 

On June 9, 2020, the rig caught fire that led to an explosion destroying 12 homes situated on the bank of Maguri Motapung wetland, a part of Dibru Saikhowa National Park’s Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ) and a globally recognized birding area. The inferno displaced more than ten thousand people according to an estimate prepared by Tinsukia district administration. The fire quickly engulfed a portion of the wetland which was already contaminated by the incendiary oil condensates instantly killing endangered birds and animals found in the wetland.