Assam package for blowout victims
The Assam government on Sunday announced a development package and promised “maximum” compensation for those affected by the gas well blowout and subsequent fire at Baghjan but the reach-out didn’t appear to have satisfied the residents.
Chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who along with Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan visited Baghjan, about 530km east of Guwahati, announced the development package.
The blowout and the subsequent fire have affected around 7,000 people in a radius of 5km. They are now housed at 14 relief camps set up by Oil India Ltd (OIL) which operates the well.
The development package includes a Rs 26-crore outlay to put in place a permanent solution to the problems of floods and erosion in Baghjan, a hospital, a veterinary hospital, a higher secondary school, a skill development centre and a plan to build a 15-km Tinsukia-Baghjan road.
