Oil sludge sets river Mini on fire
Ahmedabad   02-Nov-2011


A fire caused by oil sludge in river Mini on the outskirts of Vadodara

Villagers living along river Mini on the outskirts of the city couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw the river on fire on Monday. Huge flames leapt out of the river that runs close to river Mahi and it took a while before the fire brigade officials could contain the fire on Monday and Tuesday. The cause of the fire was the disposal of oil sludge in the river from IndianOil’s (IOC) Gujarat Refinery plant. A stretch of the river near Amrapura village was choked with the effluent over last few days.

Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) officials in fact said that Gujarat Refinery (GR) has been regularly disposing oil sludge through its storm water drain despite being issued several notices in the past.

“It is an open and shut case. The oil sludge that came out of GR’s effluent treatment plant (ETP) gathered at one point in river Mini and it created a 9-inch thick sludge. It spread over about 200 metres at the spot and somehow caught fire. The fire was doused on Sunday afternoon but on Monday again flames erupted at the same spot,” said GPCB region in-charge R B Trivedi.

“GR is allowed to use the storm water drain during monsoons but the refinery has been using the drain to dispose of the effluents regularly. The effluents make their way to the river through the drain. It is possible that over last few days more sludge may have come out of the plant and got accumulated at the spot,” Trivedi told TOI.

“In the past, too, we have issued number of notices to GR including one that was given three months ago over the same issue. But they have simply not acted on it. We have now issued a fresh show-cause notice to GR and have also reported the matter to our head office,” added Trivedi.

However, GPCB too may receive a notice in the same matter on Wednesday. Sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) J N Wagehla has decided to issue a notice to all the stake-holders including GR, GPCB and possibly the local gram panchayat under section 133 of CrPC that relates to causing public nuisance. “The stakeholders will be asked to reply to our notices within three days following which we will decide on further course of action. We are investigating as to how the effluent from GR reached at the spot,” said district collector Vinod Rao.

GR management, however, said that they are not responsible for the incident. “GR has a centralised ETP and it complies with the revised Minimum Acceptable Standards (MINAS). Majority of the effluent gets recycled and even if the surplus discharge goes into storm water drain it’s under acceptable standards,” said a GR spokesperson.