For a few hours on Friday morning, a cluster of villages in Maoist-hit Dantewada thought it was a miracle. That they had struck liquid gold, and their wells had magically turned into oil wells overnight.
Villagers drew out bucketfuls of petrol. Nearby villages joined in too. There was plenty to go around! The land rates would skyrocket, they thought. But the euphoria vapourised as cops and district officials swarmed the hamlets and went door to door, asking for the petrol to be returned.
Power supply shut to avoid ‘disaster’ at MP petrol leak site
The oil-in-a-day’s work drama happened in Geedam region. When residents of a few villages went to the wells for their morning ablutions, they were surprised when it smelled like petrol. When they drew up buckets of water, what they got was petrol.
News spread like wildlife. Gleeful villagers gathered the oil by the bucketful. The ‘happy news’ reached the administration as well. Officials were alarmed at the potential of a fire disaster and rushed teams to the villages. Officials of a petroleum PSU also arrived. They found that wells were indeed swimming with petrol.
A quick check revealed that owner of a nearby fuel pump was bewildered at losing 14,000-litre petrol and had filed a police complaint, suspecting it was stolen. Officials believe the petrol leaked out of an underground 16,000-litre reservoir.
Police have sealed off the wells to ensure there is no accident. Fire tenders have been positioned. Electricity supply was shut for fear that a spark would trigger a disaster, and roads were barricaded for hours. People have been asked not to use inflammable items until an all-clear is given.
Dantewada collector in-charge Jayant Nahata said one well was affected but villagers say petrol was found in multiple wells. After preliminary probe, police say the reservoir was cracked and the petrol found its way to the groundwater channels, ending up in wells. Police are going around recovering buckets of petrol and the region remains sealed off for the time being.
Nahata told TOI that an inquiry was ordered. Hindustan Petroleum was asked to hold a probe too & assist in remedial measures. A thorough testing of 21 samples of ground sources, including soil and water collected from the area surrounding the petrol pump, was done with no traces of odour or petrol found in them. One well was found contaminated. Petrol is being extracted from it using pumps,” he added.