Wildlife be damned

A gas well on fire poses an existential threat to Assam’s Dibru-Saikhowa National Park ANUPAM CHAKRAVARTTY TINSUKIA, ASSAM

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A SMOKE MUSHROOM hangs over Assam’s Dibru- Saikhowa National Park. A gas well on the edge of the park that had been billowing methane and crude oil uncontrollably for the past two weeks caught fire in the afternoon of June 9. Within hours, the inferno spread to over a kilometre forcing residents of nearby villages to run for their lives. Four people have been injured and about 50 houses burnt as the fire continues to rage. The smoke will cause severe and long-term damage to the ecology of the world’s only riverine island wildlife reserve and the Brahmaputra, Lohit and Dibru rivers that surround it (see ‘What’s at risk’ on p19).

The fire broke out “while clearing operations were on”, says a June 9 press release by Oil India Limited (OIL), the public sector company that operates the well located in Baghjan village of Tinsukia district. The company undertakes oil and gas extraction and exploratory operations in 23 wells around Baghjan (see ‘A question of priority’ on p19).