Locals cry for compensation
Tengratila Dabi Aday Bastobayon Parishad yesterday formed a human chain and held a rally in front of the central Shahid Minar in Sylhet city demanding payment of arrear compensation from Canadian company Niko for the blow-out at Tengratila Gas Field five years ago.
As the foreign company was engaged in drilling a well, it exploded with a big bang in the night of January 7 in 2005, causing destruction to huge gas and leaving a trail of devastation in the surrounding area.
The huge gas field location now gives a deserted look, except a few guards.
Nurul Amin, joint convener of Tengratila Dabi Aday Bastobayon Parishad, and others addressed a brief rally during yesterday's programme in Sylhet city to press their 'legitimate' demands.
The speakers at the rally said they will continue pressing the Niko to fulfil their commitments as it is a life and death matter for the poor inhabitants around.
The demanded that the government take immediate and effective measures to realise 'due arrear compensation' from the Canadian company, especially for the villagers around.
They also demanded resumption of activities in the gas field and establishment of a 50 MW power plant at a nearby location.
The two committees formed by the government after the incident mentioned that the explosion caused a loss of Tk 746 crore including Tk 85 crore environmental losses.
But things have remained unsettled still. The foreign company did not even pay the total amount of their agreed compensation to 616 poor families, who were forced out from their ancestral homes for months due to the gas well explosion.
Located nearby, the Tengratila High School building, which had to be abandoned after the incident, is yet to be reconstructed although the company had committed in writing for it.
Another serious blow-out took place on the night of June 24 in 2005 as the Canadian company Niko was running a relief well drilling at the remote location in Doarabazar upazila of Sunamganj district. It was being drilled to seal the original one, which had suffered a huge blow-out on January 7 that year.
Trees got burnt, croplands damaged and thousands of people had to be shifted from their homesteads. The huge fireball leapt 150 feet over the gas field and forced thousands to flee their homesteads.
The raging flames at Tengratila Gas Field, which were visible from even 30 kilometres away, took about two months to go down totally.
Yet bubbles of gas emission are marked on the water bodies around and fish in the ponds often die due to the gas leakage, several locals said yesterday.
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