Guwahati: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Tuesday said in its report that the Oil India Limited (OIL) had no consent to operate and carry out drilling and testing of hydrocarbons in the well no 5 at Baghjan in Assam's Tinsukia district.
According to the report submitted to the National Green Tribunal, there was a deficiency in understanding the gravity of a critical operation like removal of blowout preventer without having a confirmed and tested secondary safety barrier.
The OIL well blowout on May 27, 2020, in Baghjan in Assam’s Tinsukia district and a subsequent fire June 9 at an Oil India Limited (OIL) well could have been prevented, the report said.
The blow out took place at the OIL well no 5 at Baghjan and subsequently it caught fire on June 9 leading to the death of two persons. The blow out also affected several villages in and around the well and affected the rich biodiversity of Maguri Motapung Beel, a wetland and the Dibru Saikhowa National park located in the vicinity.
The expert committee constituted by the NGT submitted its report to the NGT recently and suggested scrutiny of all existing projects of OIL in the state of Assam to ascertain if they meet the mandatory requirements of obtaining consent or authorization under the existing Acts and Rules.
The expert committee instituted by the NGT was headed by Justice B.P. Katakey, former Judge of the Gauhati High Court and included Member Secretary of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), A senior expert from Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Dr Sarbeswar Kalita, Professor and Head of the Department of Environment Science, Gauhati University, Abhay Kumar Johari, IFS (Retired), Ajit Hazarika, Ex-Chairman, ONGCL, a Senior Scientist, Assam State Pollution Control Board and the District Magistrate, Tinsukia District.
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"In view of the above discussion and on basis of the submissions and documents submitted by OIL and the PCB, Assam, it is concluded that OIL does not have, till date, the required consent to establish and/or consent to operate to either carry out drilling and testing of hydrocarbons in Well Baghjan-5 under the Dibru Saikhowa national park area," said the report.
"This indicates a serious and grave infraction against the statutory environmental safeguards, more particularly under Section 25 & 26 of the Water Act, Section 21 of the Air Act, the authorization under Rule 6 of the Hazardous Waste (Management, Handling and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016 and the Environmental Clearance dated 11.05.2020 for the said project," the report said.
"This may, therefore, require scrutiny of all existing projects of OIL in the State of Assam to ascertain if they meet the mandatory requirements of obtaining consent/authorization under the aforesaid Acts and Rules. It is recommended that the NGT may also look into the activities of the PCB, Assam with regard to the grant of CTE / NOC and CTO for all the projects of OIL, presently in operation, in the State of Assam," the report said.
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Referring to the past orders of the Supreme court, the Committee placed on record that the apex court-mandated that under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, States should declare eco-sensitive zones (ESZs) around the protected areas to keep a check on their fragmentation that may result from industrial development.
The report further said that although the apex court had in 2017 granted conditional approval to OIL to undertake the present extraction of hydrocarbons from the proposed wells including the Well Baghjan-5, yet there appears to be clear noncompliance of conducting the Biodiversity Impact Assessment study as was mandated vide Clause 1 of the aforesaid Order passed by the apex court.
"Neither OIL nor the Assam State Biodiversity Board has presented any Biodiversity Impact Assessment study... The statement of the Assam State Biodiversity Board thus implies in clear terms that the Assam State Biodiversity Board was not approached by OIL to carry out a Biodiversity Impact Assessment," the report said.
"The Committee is presently reviewing whether OIL complied with the other conditions as mandated by the Supreme Court. Based on the reading of the documents placed before the Committee, a strong presumption arises that mitigation measures as directed by the apex Court for hazards such as spillage, oil blow out, fires were not in place at the time of the blowout or the fire at Well Baghjan-5," it said.
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