Guwahati: After a three-year-long wait, people affected by the Baghjan oil and gas blowout may receive interim compensation from the government-owned Oil India Limited (OIL) operated oil and gas rig. So far, only 600-odd Baghjan residents received one-time compensation from OIL even as the Supreme Court ordered the Assam government in March to resolve the compensation issues expeditiously within two months.
On Tuesday, the NGT principal bench headed by Justice Sheo Kumar Singh, hearing a miscellaneous application filed by affected villages, asked Tinsukia district administration to uphold the Supreme Court order. “In view of the directions issued by this Tribunal and by order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, disbursement of the interim compensation shall be done by the District Administration after verifying the facts,” states the NGT order. The victims approached the Supreme Court with a contempt petition stating the Apex court’s orders weren’t followed with regard to their compensation. The Supreme Court admitted the contempt and ordered NGT to hear the petitions of the affected villagers.
According to a submission of OIL before the tribunal, OIL has accepted its liability to pay Rs 68.05 crore further amounts to 600 affected families. OIL submitted that it would pay Rs 15 lakh each to 161 families where damage to the houses is total and Rs 10 lakh each to 439 families where damage to the house is severe. According to Manoj Hazarika, one of the petitioners from Baghjan, the further amount was never released. “We have lost count of the number of letters we have written to the authorities including Tinsukia District Administration demanding the compensation that was assured to us,” added Hazarika. OIL, however, has submitted to the NGT that an amount of Rs. 90.796 crore remains deposited in its coffers.
Tinsukia Deputy Commissioner, Swapneel Paul told EastMojo that he is yet to get a physical copy of the order. “Once I get the copy of the order, I will be able to examine it and proceed accordingly,” Paul said.
The legal counsel for the affected villages, Vikram Rajkhowa said the ball is now in Assam Government’s court, especially the Tinsukia district administration to settle the people’s compensation issues. “The first issue is that the affected people never fully received the interim compensation after the blowout incident. The second issue is that there are affected victims that were never factored into the compensatory mechanism. Further, we have already approached the Supreme Court with a civil appeal for the final compensation which is pending in the Hon’ble court,” Rajkhowa told EastMojo.
NGT’s order will now pave the way for four villages, including Baghjan, to seek interim compensation from OIL through Tinsukia District Administration. According to Rajkhowa, there are 2195 families, which include 612 families from Baghjan, 658 from Natun Rongagora, 353 from Bengali Basti, and 572 from No 1 Baghjan village. “These families have already moved to the NGT. This order allows them to put their case before the Deputy Commissioner of Tinsukia,” added Rajkhowa.
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Niranta Gohain, one of the petitioners from Natun Rongagora, told EastMojo that submissions of OIL exposed the Assam government’s attitude towards the villagers. “OIL deposited the compensation amount in the Tinsukia Deputy Commissioner’s office. Whenever we approached the DC, he would say funds were unavailable. The court proceedings have exposed the district administration completely,” Gohain told East Mojo.
Locals are hopeful that the order might help people recover from the losses that various communities faced due to the devastating blowout of May 202, which displaced more than 9,000 people. “We are keeping our fingers crossed. We hope that the district administration listens to our plight. Even the Courts know how we continue to suffer. Government has to listen to the courts,” says Lavanya Hazarika, a Baghjan resident who lost her house to the fire from the blowout three years ago.
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