Duliajan: Deaths by accident and deaths by unnatural circumstances have become a routine affairs in the Assam-based Oil India Ltd. The state-run oil explorer has scored an inimitable record of sort in terms of the number of deaths due to uncanny reasons in and around OIL installations in upper Assam for the past few years.
On Wednesday afternoon, February 14, when Oil India Management was perhaps cheering and dancing for a sudden spurt in the company’s share prices-obviously not for performance led rally- Rabin Orang, a young contractual employee died a horrifying death and four others critically injured in a deadly explosion in well Number 162 around 3.05 pm that left villagers run helter-skelter for safety.
Rabin Orang, witness accounts suggest, was completely gutted while other four received terrible injuries. When this copy is being written, the condition of two contractual employees are still in a very critical condition in the Assam Medical College with their survival chances hanging in the balance.
The accident has once again left open the crucial question about the company’s ever deteriorating safety standards which is directly responsible for the death of scores of people in the last four years.
NewsIP has been reporting continuously for the past six months about the gory lapses on the safety front, be it pipeline leakages, or explosion or blow-out from both active and abandoned wells.
“This is a criminal offence that the company has perpetrated in terms of safety rules violations that led to over 50 accidents killing and injuring many people,” said a local student leader. The Student leader has further pointed out that in most of the cases, the contractual workers fell victims to such accidents because the regular employees push them to these difficult jobs, about which the contractual labourers neither have any training nor any experience. “ They don’t have even a pair of quality safety shoes,” alleged an official preferring anonymity.
Most of these contractual employees are in their early 20s and are driven by unemployment and poverty in this part of the country where large and medium levels industries are in scarce. Apart from oil and tea, investments are hardly coming to other areas leading to youngsters queuing up for life threatening jobs particularly in the Assam oil industry, most of which is suffering from vintage, and thus exposing the threats on safety.
The major ones are coming from the Oil India installations which is faced with ever declining production in spite of being awarded Maharatna status. This news portal has earlier provided its several investigative reports so as to make government and administrations aware of the rape of processes in the safety front only to somehow manage to reach the production targets.
“No matter, if that mad chase cast permanent damages to the fields and irreparable damage to the loss of lives and properties,” said a retired official, adding “ so long that satiate the thirst of some senior management people who need to prove a point of their efficiency.”
There are large number of accusations that many employees, particularly who are young and in the lower rung of the verticals, are not able to take the extreme pressure that their seniors are exerting day in and day out.
Recently, in an extremely shocking incident, an Oil India Limited (OIL) allegedly committed suicide by hanging at his residence in Duliajan in Dibrugarh district of Assam.
The person has been identified as Akashdeep Sharma from Bihar, an oil engineer.
As per sources, Akashdeep found hanging in residence number DX 14 inside the Oil India Limited Campus. Although, there’s been whispers that the reason for the suicide could very well be founded in the pressures and misbehaves of a section of seniors that led him into depression. However, there is no evidence, received by this portal which can link the death to the official problems.
To be Continued….Why Arnab Bordoloi’s, grieving family seeks clarification, transparency from oil on circumstances of death on September 9, 2020 while working at the Baghjan well no 5, that witnessed the worst ever blow-out. Stay tuned
for a details story coming soon……
