Deposit Rs 25 crore with District Magistrate: National Green Tribunal to OIL

TINSUKIA: The Principal Bench of National Green Tribunal (NGT), New Delhi, headed by Justice SP Wangdi and Expert Member Siddhanta Das, in an order issued on Wednesday, slammed the Oil India Limited (OIL) for the Baghjan oilfield blast under Sections 14 and 15 of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) Act-2010, and directed the OIL to deposit an initial amount of Rs 25 crore with the District Magistrate Tinsukia after viewing prima facie case made out against OIL on the extent of damage caused to the environment and biodiversity, damage to both human and wildlife, public health and having regard to the financial worth of the Company and extent of damage and shall abide by further orders of the Tribunal.

Bonani Kakkar, an environmentalist and the 'Wild Life and Environment Conservation Organisation' had appealed separately before the Tribunal alleging failure of the OIL in preventing the blowout of the Baghjan oil well resulting in the massive fire causing irreparable loss to the entire biodiversity of the region and loss of lives and property. The cases – 43/2020/EZ and 44/2020/EZ came up for hearing through video conferencing on June 24, 2020.

The Bench viewed that in order to proceed further in the matter effectively, an eight-member 'Committee of Experts' be constituted with former Judge of the Gauhati High Court Justice BP Katakey as its Chairman. The other seven members of the Committee are Member Secretary of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and senior expert from CSIR Dr Sarbeswar Kalita; Professor and Head of the Department of Environment Science, Guwahati University, Abhay Kumar Johari; former Member of the Biodiversity Board, Ajit Hazarika; former Chairman of ONGCL, Member Secretary/Senior Scientist Assam State Pollution Control Board and District Magistrate Tinsukia. The Member Secretary of CPCB shall be the nodal agency for coordination. The State PCB and the District Magistrate Tinsukia shall provide all logistic support including security; and the initial expenditure for the functioning of the Committee shall be borne by the State of Assam which may be reimbursed after the liability for the damage is assessed, the order stated.

The order of the Tribunal also said that the Committee shall visit and inspect the site and the area in question and examine the aspects like-cause of gas and oil leak, extent of loss and damage caused to human life, wildlife, environment; damage and health hazard caused to the public.

The Committee will also examine whether any contamination has been caused to water, air and soil of the area of the oil well and its vicinity; extent of contamination of water of the Dibru River due to the oil spill; impact on the eco-sensitive zone of the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park and Maguri-Motapung Wetland; impact on agriculture, fishery and domestic animals in the area; whether there were any mitigation measure put in place by OIL to offset the incidents; persons responsible for the fire incidents and the cause of failure to prevent the incident; assessment of compensation for the victims and cost of restitution of the damage caused to property and the environment; preventive and remedial measures and any other incidental or allied issues.

Also watch: Evening Bulletin | 24th June, 2020