Mormugao Deputy Collector Levinson Martins has convened a meeting on Thursday morning, to discuss the seepage of petroleum products into two wells at Bogmalo. Stating this, Chicolna-Bogmalo Sarpanch Laxman Kavlekar told Herald that Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) officials on Wednesday claimed they had no facilities to store the petroleum that had been pumped out of two wells at Pilmad-Bogmalo. Following a complaint by Mr Kavlekar, the deputy collector had asked IOC officials to remove the petroleum product from the two wells. IOC officials undertook the operations on Saturday, but the seepage continued to take place two days later and Mr Kavlekar alleged that a third well had been contaminated in the village. "IOC officials failed to turn up to pump out the inflammable liquid on Wednesday on grounds that they did not have facilities to store the petroleum product,' Mr Kavlekar said. The sarpanch, however, admitted that the IOC had assured to resolve the problem of storage facilities at the earliest. Mr Kavlekar has now asked IOC officials to allow them to visit all eight tanks located in the naval area, which is close to the affected wells. "I have asked IOC officials to hold a joint inspection of tanks with panchayat members, to clear our doubts on whether the petroleum has seeped from the IOC tanks or from other source,' Mr Kavlekar said.

While efforts to pump out petroleum products that seeped into two wells at Pilmad Bogmalo have met with little success, Chicolna-Bogmalo Sarpanch Laxman Kavlekar has now claimed that a third well has been contaminated in the village. Mr Kavlekar has stated that IOC officials will visit the well on Wednesday to pump out the petroleum product. Speaking to Herald on Tuesday evening, Mr Kavlekar claimed that petroleum continued to seep into the wells, despite operations by the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to pump out the inflammable liquid on Saturday. "I visited the two wells this evening and was surprised to find the same amount of petroleum in the wells. In fact, another well has been contaminated in the village,' said Mr Kavlekar. "On Saturday evening, IOC officials began operations to pump out the petroleum product. The next day, small quantities of petroleum were found in the two wells and residents had assumed it to be residues of the petroleum,' the sarpanch said. When contacted, Ajit Morye, an IOC official at Mumbai, told Herald that IOC officers had alerted the Mumbai office of the continued seepage of petroleum, despite pumping out the liquid on Saturday. "Samples collected from the two wells have confirmed that the petroleum product found in the contaminated wells was not Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF),' Mr Morye said. He, however, admitted IOC officials investigating the cause of the seepage are yet to identify its source. "Bogmalo is no Gulf country. From where would the seepage originate, if not from the eight tanks in the naval area,' asked Mr Kavlekar.

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Toxic water released from several yarn dyeing and processing mills in Belkuchi upazila of Sirajganj district is polluting the local environment, causing untold suffering to thousands of people and posing serious health hazard. Influential people set up the mills in an unplanned way without any treatment plant and drainage system, by managing some unscrupulous officials of the relevant sections, said local residents. Over 100 yarn dyeing and processing mills at different villages including Tamai, Shohagpur, Garamashi, Chala, Chandangati and Mukundagati have no treatment plant and they were set up without permission from the authorities concerned, locals said. Eleven of the mills owned by Aziz Sarker, Hiron Munshi, Labu Shaikh, Anwar Hossain, Badol Khan, Abdul Kader, Hiron Sarker, Babu Salam, Rejaul Karim, Khokon and Abdul Motin at Tamai village are posing most serious threats, they said. Toxic chemicals like sulphuric acid, acetic acid, hydrogen-per oxides, caustic soda, bleaching powder, silicate, glace and colours are used in these mills to treat the thread or cottons. After releasing from the mills, the untreated water is mixed with ponds and marshes in the area and creates serious health hazards. An acute crisis of pure and clean drinking water is prevailing in the area as toxic wastes from the mills are mixed with the under ground water, turning water from the tube-wells yellowish. Many people are being affected with skin diseases, diarrhoea, dysentery, eye infection and nausea due to use of the water. Mukti Khatun, 35, wife of Golam Kibria of Tamai village, said she has been suffering from skin diseases for the last few years. Her seven-year-old child has been affected with gastric disease by drinking the toxic water, she quoted doctors as saying. The toxic water has damaged fertility of hundreds of acres of croplands and fishes of ponds and marshes in the area. Many fruit bearing trees in the area have died while taking of the toxic wastes from drinking the water also caused the death of domestic animals and fowls including cows, goats, ducks, hens, villagers said. Many houses made of corrugated iron sheets in the area became rusty and got damaged within a short time due to the vapour and toxic waste of the mills. The atmosphere in and around of the mills has become seriously dirty and unhygienic, as the water remains stagnant in absence of proper drainage system. Azam Khan, Dulal Mollah, Mohsin Pramanik, Fazlur Rahman and Zamal Uddin of Tamai village said several times they went to Belkuchi upazila Sanitary Inspector Mohammad Ali Jinnah to discuss with him about the ways to get rid of the problem but he ignored them. They also submitted petitions to the deputy commissioner in Sirajganj, UNO in Belkuchi, director of Department of Environment (DoE) in Bogra, Rab and Army to take initiative for saving the environment, but to no effect. Even a case was lodged with Belkuchi Police Station in this connection against the mills owners. The complainants said Director of DoE Bogra office Mosharraf Hossain misbehaved with them and threatened to get them arrested by police, if they further demand proper action against the mills owners. Contacted over phone three times, Mosharraf Hossain declined to make any comment saying that there was network problem and he was busy. Aziz Sarker, owner of SI process mill, said, no one of authorities concerned ever asked him to stop the mill or set up a treatment plant since its establishment. Belkuchi Upazila Nirbahi Officer Khairul Alam Sheikh said he has written to the authorities concerned suggesting setting up of necessary treatment plants in the area.