GUWAHATI: Residents of Baghjan in Upper Assam’s Tinsukia district have decided to stop work at Baghjan Early Production System (EPS) from Thursday in protest against Oil India Limited’s delay in releasing compensation to the families affected by the blowout well in the area.
Members of the Baghjan Gaon Yuba Milanjyoti Sangha (BGYMS) met on Wednesday and decided to stage the blockade at Baghjan EPS.
“We will launch a massive blockade programme from tomorrow and stop work of OIL in protest against the delay in providing compensation to the families affected by the Baghjan gas well fire for about three and a half months,” Satyajit Moran, the president of the Baghjan Gaon Yuba Milanjyoti Sangha, said.
The Sangha has been staging a continuous protest from a makeshift camp in front of the Tinsukia DC’s office for the past 23 days.
“But no one is concerned about the villagers of Baghjan who are facing immense problems, staying at relief camps for more than three months now. The entire village has been affected due to spewing of gas and condensate from the blowout well,” Moran said.
OIL sources said that so far, 2756 families have been surveyed.
“We have given Rs 20 lakh as compensation to each of the 12 families whose houses were fully damaged by the fire. We have also paid Rs 9 crore to the Tinsukia deputy commissioner for immediate financial relief to around 3000 families,” an OIL spokesperson said.
“The district administration however has not submitted its full assessment report till now and so we have not been able to provide compensation to the other affected families,” he said.
OIL had in their second attempt on Sunday successfully diverted the gas flow to two flare pits and two other areas in Baghjan EPS.
