Panic gripped locals of Duliajan in Assam’s Dibrugarh district after natural gas discharge was reported from a pipeline of Oil India Limited (OIL) on Tuesday.

The incident occurred outside the residence of a person identified as Pijush Pal situated near the B.T Field in Duliajan.

As per sources, a fire erupted outside the premises of Pijush Pal’s residence while he was offering prayers this morning. The reason for this has been identified as an alleged gas leakage from an OIL pipeline. However, the dousing flame was extinguished after the efforts of the locals.

Meanwhile, post the incident, locals of the area are reeling under great risk and danger and avoiding the use of fire till the situation comes under control. Locals have also shown their discontent towards the OIL authorities after they claimed that the gas leakage would take time to be fixed.

While speaking about the incident that occurred today, Pijush Pal said, “This morning I witnessed a strange sound while offering prayers in my temple. I didn’t know what it was. Then, when I was lighting the ‘dia’, it exploded and kind of flames erupted from it. The temple also heated up from all sides. Just then a local who was passing by my residence and he said that there was fire erupting outside the temple premises. I however doused the fire with the help of some locals.”

“I called up officials of the gas company. They then confirmed that this was a leakage from Oil India Limited (OIL). They have said that the work will take almost a week to be completed. We are surviving in a very risky situation now. We are scared to even cook food. All people of this area have been affected and are distressed regarding this issue,” he further said.

In the month of March, uncontrollable gas condensate discharge from an oil well owned by OIL was reported in Tinsukia's Baghjan area. According to official information, a technical issue caused the gas leakage at a suction pipe on the surface level of the BGI well in Baghjan.