Expert committee to assess the impact of oil well blowout in Baghjan

TINSUKIA: A 10-member expert committee constituted by the PCCF-cum-head of Forest Force Assam to assess the impact of oil well blowout visited the site on June 10 and 11. The committee is to assess the impact of the blowout on the habitat and biodiversity of Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, including human and their livestock.

The team arrived on June 9 evening and carried out the assessment on June 10 and June 11. The team members included MK Yadava, Addl PCCF Wildlife as Chairman, Dr Samarendra Hazarika, Soil Scientist ICAR Barapani, Dr Kishore Sharma Plant Scientist AAU Jorhat, Dr Narayan Sharma professor Zoology and Environmental Science Cotton University and others.

Team members were shocked to observe the vast grassland of Baghjan bordering Maguri-Motapung Beel after it reduced to ashes with untraceable agricultural fields due to blazing inferno. A member of the team said the oil has spilled into the river Dangori towards the beel side but apparently not towards the National Park though intense heat might damage the National Park in later stages. Significantly river dolphins were not sighted; he said adding that they had observed thick black clouds over the normal clouds in patches hovering over the Brahmaputra which might lead to acid rain. He also maintained that assessment should have been undertaken immediately after the blowout so that a comparative study would have depicted the extent of damage. He also felt that the impact assessment of Maguri-Motapung Beel should have been brought within the ambit of Terms of Reference (ToR). Though the expert committee will undertake similar impact assessment in the notified Eco-Sensitive Zone of Dibru-Saikhowa NP under its ToR, non-inclusion of Maguri-Motapung created strong discontentment among the local environmentalists.

Also watch: Morning Bulletin | 12th June, 2020