Gujarat Ongc Wells Reopen Under Police Protection

All the 27 wells of the Oil and Natural Gas Commission at Gandhar in Broach district of south Gujarat, which were closed down on Thursday following agitation by farmers demanding compensation for lands acquired from them, were reopened yesterday under police protection.

According to district collector S Aparna, the ONGC was initially hesitant about resuming normal operations until the district administration assured them complete protection and prohibitory orders had reduced the agitation to a handful of picketers outside the oilfield area. She told Business Standard over the telephone that the agitation has been entirely peaceful . The farmers, who had lost patience with some 170 cases supposed to have been reopened but which have yet to be taken up. However, movement by road was yet to return to normal, the district collector admitted, as the tankers would have to move through areas where the prohibitory orders do not apply.

 

, but they were being loaded at the oil wells and taken out selectively while five to six IPG tankers were dispatched under police escort on an emergency basis.

The pipelines, on the other hand, were operating more or less at full capacity with six group gathering stations supplying petroleum and natural gas to the central processing facility from where they are piped to the refineries at Baroda and thanks to the Gas Authority of India, the Gujarat Electricity Board etc.

Meanwhile, vehicles carrying food and other essential supplies were moving into the Gandhar premises unimpeded. A tanker containing nitrogen for its power plants was also being taken in. A meeting between the Gujarat government and farmers leaders has been scheduled for Tuesday next to sort out the matter.