Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: Unauthorised construction activities, digging, and structural build-up over any underground pipeline corridor can rupture the line, cause a catastrophic leak, or trigger an explosion. Against such a backdrop, rampant encroachment and other activities are going on over the underground pipeline of Oil India Limited (OIL).
The demarcated 60-foot-wide strip over the OIL underground pipeline runs across Assam. A reality check of the strip from Narangi-Satgaon Point towards Six Mile reveals ongoing unauthorised occupation, encroachment, construction, trespass, tampering, and other activities. Taking advantage of the invisibility of the demarcation of the strip, a section of people has encroached upon OIL land and set up shops, garages and other structures for commercial activities, especially at the intervals of posts erected quite wide apart.
According to the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Act, 1971, the owner of the pipeline can evict the encroachers after serving them notice for a certain period.
According to sources, there have been encroachments over this strip in many districts in Assam. According to rules under the Act, nobody can plant any deep-rooted tree on the strip, let alone erect temporary sheds or structures for storing materials, etc., there.
The moot point is: despite the issue being so sensitive and hazardous, what makes OIL remain a mute spectator and do nothing against the encroachers?
From Satgaon to VIP Road, the 60-foot-wide strip over the OIL pipeline runs was around four to five feet below the road level and served like a drain to clear water from the VIP Road and the hill beyond it. However, shop and establishment owners on the other side of the strip filled it to the VIP Road level at irregular intervals up to Six Mile for their convenience. And this earth-filled strip obstructs the flow of water, leading to waterlogging on the VIP Road.
A smart shower is enough to inundate the road at Satgaon-Narangi Point in Guwahati. Had the OIL allowed the Kamrup (M) district authority to dig a drain to drain out the water at the time of waterlogging, the situation of artificial floods could have eased to an extent, and the public would have got a respite. The rules of the Act have provisions for manual digging over the strip with due permission from the authority concerned. However, the use of vibrators is strictly prohibited for digging on the strip.
According to sources, OIL occasionally issues notices and demolishes some unauthorised structures, but the situation quickly returns to its previous state.
Why doesn't the OIL authority take stringent action against encroachers, trespassers and unauthorized occupants over the strip to safeguard its critical infrastructure in the interest of public safety and national energy security? The authority responsible certainly has an obligation to respond to the public, whose safety is at risk.
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