Oil leakage from IOC pipeline poses threat to marine life

An oil leak was detected on Thursday at a crucial pipeline of the oil refinery project of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) at Mangrajpur under Kujang police station, raising concerns over its environmental impact and loss of supplies.

Fishermen have alleged that thousands of marine fishes including prawn have died due to entry of crude oil on prawn gheries.

Sources said that a leakage was found on the Haldia-Paradip oil and gas pipeline at Mangrajpur under Kujang police station on Thursday morning. Local villagers detected this leakage at Mangrajpur, 15 km from the Paradip port and informed the IOCL officials.

"The leakage was so intense that nearby agricultural fields, rivulets, creeks and prawn gheries were inundated by crude oil, posing serious threat to marine spices and prawn fishes. Entry of the leaked crude oil on prawn gheries and creeks has resulted in the death of thousands of fishes”, local fishermen claimed.

The incident sparked panic among the residents with the district administration cautioning people against cooking at their houses until the leakage was repaired. "Officials of IOCL are at the spot to assess the quantity of leakage and environmental damage caused by it. The leakage has been checked”, said B K Sati, Deputy General Manager of IOCL.Sati informed that the pipe line was under dense plantation at Mangrajpur area and it is suspected that the leakage was created by some miscreants who are believed to have damaged the pipeline using a sharp iron rod.

“There is no need to panic because the crude oil has spread only to a few areas of the locality. Experts of IOCL from Paradip including 25 employees have been pressed into service to plug the leakage so that it does not affect the oil refinery project”, he stated.