JORHAT, Sept 29 � A massive fire surrounded a unit of the heater treater plant of the ONGC Group Gathering Station (GGS) at Borhola, Titabar last night followed by a blast at about 9-45 pm.
According to a source, the fire occurred due to some technical defect in the machinery inside GGS. A heater treater plant in a GGS comprises of three units. One of them in the plant was not functioning well due to some technical problems. Last night the fire occurred from that unit.
More than 25 fire-tenders from Duliajan, Sivasagar, IAF, Jorhat, Titabor, Mariani rushed to the spot and flames were doused after nearly three-hour-long operation.
In the meantime, anti-talk ULFA faction claimed responsibility for the blast. In a press release, the outfit stated that the blast was a part of their routine exercise against the capitalist establishments in North-East India under the patronage of the Central Government. The outfit further added that the blast is a warning against the killing of two Assamese persons namely Manoj Konwar and Nirup Das recently in the Sibsagar district. It also alleged that there was involvement of the Sivasagar SP Akhilesh Singh in both the murders.
But the ONGC authority denied the claim of ULFA. Police sources too said that there was no sign of bomb blast inside the GGS. Neither any hole on earth nor any sign of splinters of a bomb were found there.
ONGC technical team has been studying the cause of the blast and subsequent fire in the plant. Meanwhile, expert teams of Industrial Security Force and from Forensic Laboratory have arrived at the place inside the GGS campus. No casualty was reported in the incident of the fire in the GGS.