GUWAHATI, Nov 6 - Oil India Ltd (OIL) has been granted environmental clearance by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) for execution of the extended reach drilling (ERD) and testing of hydrocarbons at seven locations beneath the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park (DSNP), allegedly without bothering to abide by a Supreme Court of India stipulation that a biodiversity impact assessment study in these locations should be carried out through the Assam State Biodiversity Board (ASBB).
Significantly, OIL had applied for the environmental clearance to the ERD operations and testing of hydrocarbons at the locations in 2016, it placed the request with the ASBB for conducting the biodiversity impact assessment study at those locations only on January 28, 2017.
The locations of the ERD operations and hydrocarbon testing are spread over an area of around 20 sq km situated at Baghjan in Tinsukia district. The DSNP was declared a biosphere reserve in 1997 and its total area is around 765 sq km.
OIL had placed the request with the ASBB for conducting the biodiversity impact assessment study as per the advice of the State Wildlife Department. But going through the documents available on the matter, it is evident that OIL was not serious in getting the study done.
According to documents made available by the ASBB to RTI-cum-environment activist Rohit Choudhury, OIL had placed the request with the Board to facilitate clearance to its operations from the National Board of Wildlife (NBWL). In his January 28, 2017 letter, OIL�s general manager (HSE) AK Acharya requested a �budgetary offer� for the study (Letter No S & E/E/93/160 dated 28/01/2017).
In response to OIL�s request, AK Johari, Member Secretary of the ASBB, said on May 12, 2017 (ABB/Consultancy Services/2017/478) that the total budget requirement for the work would be Rs 21,23,000 only for a period of six months. The ASBB Member Secretary also gave the detail break-up of the cost involved in the entire exercise.
But, since then, OIL has remained silent on the issue. Only on August 21, 2020, it placed another request, via e-mail, for the same study with the ASBB. This was in the aftermath of the havoc created by the May 27, 2020 Baghjan gas well 5 blowout incident.
This time, the ASBB said in unambiguous terms that it would not be possible on its part to undertake the above study, �till the environmental crisis in and around Baghjan/Dibru-Saikhowa/Maguri-Motapung Beel area is fully mitigated by M/s Oil India Ltd.�
Meanwhile, the Committee of Experts constituted by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), with Justice Brojendra Prasad Katakey as its head, on the May 27, 2000 Baghjan gas well 5 blowout, has observed in its latest report that OIL is placed because of this failure, �in contempt of the directions passed by the Hon�ble Supreme Court of India, specially its Order dated 07.09.2017 granting conditional approval to OIL, to undertake the present extraction of hydrocarbons from the proposed wells including the Well Baghjan 5�.
