TERI, IIT Guwahati, NEIST Jorhat accessing Baghjan OIL blowout impact: Centre

NEW DELHI: Confirming that there has been impact on nearby areas due to the Baghjan blowout well in Tinsukia district of Assam, the government of India has said that TERI has been engaged for ambient air quality monitoring and bioremediation, North East Institute of Science and Technology (NEIST), Jorhat has been engaged for seismological study and IIT Guwahati has been engaged for heat impact through thermal imaging in the area.

Also Read: Baghjan blowout well tamed, claims OIL; fire at blowout well doused

The Centre has constituted a three-member committee to inquire into this incident. In addition, inquiry committees have also been set up by the Directorate General of Mines and Safety and Oil Industry Safety Directorate (OISD). Two OIL officers directly looking after the operations of the well before the blowout have been suspended

In reply to a question on the floor of the lower house of Parliament, Union minister for petroleum and natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan said that approximately 3,000 affected families were evacuated to rehabilitation camps set up by the district administration.

The district administration has constituted a committee for assessment of property loss for which OIL has to deposit the compensation amount to district administration for disbursal to the affected families, he said.

Also Read: PM Modi assures support in managing Assam flood, erosion, COVID-19 & OIL fire

Earlier, Public sector giant Oil India Limited inched a step closer to kill the blowout well on Sunday after it succeeded in “restoration of diversion of gas” from blowout well to Baghjan Early Production System (EPS) in Assam’s Tinsukia.

The development came a week after OIL had to halt the diversion of the gas operation after leakage was observed at the thread of wellhead casing, hours after achieving major success in diverting the gas paving way for snubbing operations to kill the well, prompting it to put the well back to blowout status with fire at 5.25 pm on September 7, and at a time when OIL lost a young engineer Arnab Kishore Bordoloi while testing electric connection for the repairing job at the well site.

The fire has been raging again since then.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already assured Assam chief minister to offer all possible help in this regard.