Villagers protest against Oil company’s waste

Barmer: Hundreds of villagers in Rajasthan’s Barmer district are staging a protest to save the land fertility in the region which is getting damaged due to the hazardous chemicals and contaminated waste mud which is being released by the oil company, working in the area. Villagers claimed that they have been facing the situation for the past four-five years but with each passing day it is constantly increasing and at present the situation is that hazardous chemicals have started polluting the irrigation water.

Villagers said that the company discharged the contaminated waste mud containing hazardous chemicals into the land by pressure pump machines inside the waste pits located near the oil wells. Due to this, the irrigation water from tube wells is getting spoiled which further is not only affecting the land fertility but also damaging the ready crops. Locals from more than a dozen villagers have been staging a protest for the past one week and now they have announced that if their issue has not been addressed, they will intensify their protest and create hurdles in the company operations.

Trilokaram Choudhary, Sarpanch of Khanji Ka Tala panchayat, said that many times they approached the Cairn Oil and Gas company officials and requested them to take note. Choudhary said that whenever they met the authorities, they blamed them for interrupting industrial development in the area.