GUWAHATI: Tea Association of India (TAI) has urged the Assam government to take cognizance of the threat posed to tea estates close to oil wells by mishaps such as the one at Baghjan and put in place a protocol that could address any such eventualities with least degree of collateral damage.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, TAI secretary general, P.K. Bhattacharjee acknowledged the prompt action by the state government pursuant to the blowout to make an assessment of the ensuing loss arising out of the fire in respect of property, paddy, and tea bushes, etc along with fallout on the tea gardens in the adjoining area.
TAI urged the government to adopt a long term mechanism to lessen the impact of such eventualities in the near future.
“The Baghjan incident has once again brought some issues affecting tea estates to the fore. This accident necessitated shifting a sizable number of workmen from the site of the fire and this is bound to affect gas supplies to various power companies, fertiliser companies and a large number of tea estates,” Bhattacharjee said.
“In the midst of such incidents, the apprehension among tea industries having oil wells within tea estates persists. The case of Lakwah Tea Estate in Sivsagar district is an example. In the past couple of years, out of total 520 hectares of tea estate’s land, approximately 130 hectares has been acquired by the ONGC for oil exploration activities. This has had serious repercussions on soil and environment in and around the tea estates,” he said.
“But the most important aspect is that the workforce continues to remain perpetually apprehensive of their livelihood, should there be a recurrence of such at any point of time in the future,” he added.
Tea gardens and oil fields, particularly in Upper Assam, have grown concurrently since the early 19th century even as a significant portion of tea garden land has been acquired by the government to facilitate exploration and digging of oil fields.
