Imphal/Guwahati/New Delhi:
The residents contacted the authorities, after which in an unprecedented level of coordination in recent times the power, water resources, environment and disaster relief departments, along with the police and the district administration rushed to the area, the government said in the statement.
A three-member committee to look into the incident has been formed; they will give a report to the Governor in 15 says, the state Home Department said in an order on behalf of the Governor. The report will look into what caused the “leak” and under what circumstances.The Public Health and Engineering Department (PHED) will collect samples from the streams, Leimakhong river and downstream areas and send the samples to the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati daily, the department secretary N Kheda Varta Singh said in a letter to IIT Guwahati director Parameswar K Iyer. A team from IIT-Guwahati is also coming to Manipur.
A first information report (FIR) has been filed against unknown people a day after oil leaked into a river and streams from a defunct heavy-oil power station in Manipur’s Leimakhong area.
The area has been completely sealed off and more security forces have been posted at the power plant, the Chief Minister’s Office said in a statement last week.
Residents in Kanto Sabal village, some 4 km from the power plant, found a layer of a viscous, black substance running in Leimakhong river towards Kanto dam on Wednesday night. The alarmed residents scooped up the greasy substance with buckets and found them smelling of oil, which they found also burned easily.
(This story has not been edited by News Mania staff and is published from a Media Release)
