ONGC Gas leak in Krishna District damage paddy crops, scare villagers

The outflow of gas at an installation of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) at Chinapandraka village of Kruttivennu mandal in Krishna district on Sunday evening gave tense moments to villagers.

The leak occurred when drilling operations were being carried out by the ONGC on Sunday. After a few hours, experts from Rajamundry reached the place and stopped the leakage. However, the surrounding paddy fields were damaged due to the gas leakage.

The terrified villagers staged a protest at the drilling site asking the ONGC to end operations. Machilipatanam RDO Saibabu visited the drilling site and interacted with villagers. He promised to take precautions to avoid such incidents.

A crisis management group was trying to stem the flow, leakage occurred when a well was being dug nearby and efforts were on to cap it at the earliest, said an ONGC official spokesman

For the record, a similar incident had caused panic in the area on September 26, 2014. Gas had then gushed out of an underground pipeline. ONGC technicians activated a defunct well when the gas leaked and it was capped soon.

Meanwhile, District Collector Babu said a proposal for compensation to farmers for crops damaged was being considered.