Oil Spill Into Canal: Admin, locals save Halda from possible disaster

Efforts of the local administration and the villagers have saved the Halda river, a unique natural breeding ground for carp, from a possible disaster.

Thousands of litres of furnace oil spilled into a canal, just three kilometres away from the river, as three tank wagons of a train derailed in Moddom Deyan Nagar area of Hathazari upazila on Sunday.

Local administration rushed to spot soon after the incident and engaged villagers to build at least 11 makeshift dams to block the thick liquid from spreading to the river.

At least 15,000 litres of furnace oil was scooped out from the water body in the last 30 hours.

Meanwhile, Padma Oil Company Limited declared that it would buy the oil scooped by the locals -- a move that motivated the villagers to come for-ward.

The company was buying the oil at Tk20 per litre from the locals.

Ruhul Amin, upazilanirbahi officer of Hathazariupazila, told The Daily Star that they were able to collect at least 15,000 litre of oil from Morachora ca-nal where the wagons fell off.

“I think it is about half of the total oil spilled in the canal. Locals sold at least 8,000 litres to Padma Oil Company,” he added.

Three investigation committees were formed by Bangladesh Railway to in-vestigate the incident.