Assam govt allows OIL to clear reserve forests for pipelines despite alternative routes

With the increase in demand for crude oil and natural gas, the largest stretch of lowland rainforest in the country under the Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve Park in Assam is under threat.

India’s premier oil company, Oil India Limited, engaged in the business of exploration, development, and production of crude oil and natural gas, is seeking to expand production. In a bid to do so, the company has undertaken two projects that would lead to felling of about 3000 trees, that too within reserved forest areas in Assam.

A public interest litigation (PIL), was recently filed in the Supreme Court against OIL. The PIL was filed on the basis of a complaint made by one Pranavjyoti Sharma of Bongaigaon, Assam.

In his complaint letter, Sharma has stated that the two pipeline projects, work of which have already been started in November 2022, and is scheduled for completion by March 2023, will not only lead to the destruction of 2994 trees, including Assam’s state tree Hollong (Dipterocarpus retusus) but also disturb the natural habitat of several species of wildlife, including some endangered ones like the hoolock gibbon.

Laying of oil and gas pipelines through reserve forest

Oil India Limited has been undertaking petroleum exploration, transportation, and refining activities in and around Duliajan and Digboi of Assam for over a century. An 8-inch diameter underground crude oil transportation pipeline from Duliajan to Digboi was commissioned in 1954 for supplying feedstock requirements to the Digboi Refinery, the oldest refinery in India. Now, after about 70 years of continuous service, OIL is intending to decommission the aging pipeline and construct a new one. The said pipeline route is along the Duliajan-Digboi road and approximately 16.4 km of it runs through Upper Dehing Reserve Forest.

The new pipeline will also be laid in 16.228 km of forest area.

OIL has submitted a compliance report for the diversion of 13.43 hectares of forest land in the Upper Dehing Reserve Forest (West Block).

Assam govt allows OIL to clear reserve forests for pipelines despite alternative routes (1)
Construction of pipelines

In a separate project, OIL will be laying an 18-inch underground natural gas pipeline from Kushijan to Duliajan to mitigate bottlenecks in natural gas transportation. In its first forest clearance proposal, OIL submitted for a 50.46 hectare land diversion with a 100 ft wide corridor. The Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change, however, rejected the same since the proposal included the Duliajan-Digboi road and the requirement for felling of a large number of trees.

In its revised proposal, the company lowered the minimum width of the pipeline track to 7.5 meters on one side of the road to cut down a minimum number of trees. Though this width is less than the commonly used pipeline corridor width of 12 to 18 meters, it was proposed to be made feasible by taking advantage of the nearby road for pipeline stringing and equipment mobilization purposes.

Additionally, the new pipelines would be laid in the same trench complying with a minimum 0.5 meter separation distance.

The ministry of environment, forest and climate change, in a letter to the Assam forest department had only granted an “in principle approval/stage- I” clearance for the diversion of 27.43 ha of forest land for laying of pipeline Kumchai EPS to Kusijan FGGS in Upper Dehing Reserved Forest (West Block), Upper Dehing Reserved (East Block), Buridehing Reserved Forest, and Duamara Reserved Forest under Digboi Division and Doomdooma Division in favour of Oil India Ltd, subjected to a list of 29 conditions.

Although work on the projects had been started in November last, no environment and forest clearance reports from the Union ministry have been made public by OIL to date.

While the “in principle approval/stage- I” clearly mentions environmental clearance is mandatory for this project, the environment and safety department of OIL has contradicted stating that, “Environment clearance is taken only when the work of laying such pipelines in areas under eco-sensitive areas is carried out. Since the installation of this pipeline is outside the eco-sensitive area, there is no need to take environmental clearance. The work of installing the pipes has been done only after getting this permission through forest clearance.”

Additionally, the aerial distance from the proposed pipeline from Dehing Patkai National Park at the nearest point is approximately 2.52 km. However, lands falling within 10 km of the boundaries of national parks and sanctuaries should be notified as eco-fragile zones under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. Given that the eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) around the Dehing Patkai National Park is yet to be demarcated, the said pipeline is very likely to fall within the ESZ.

Loss to environment estimated at Rs 276.68 lakh

OIL has already been granted permission by the divisional forest office to chop down 850 trees of 83 species for the Duliajan-Digboi Refinery project, without any environment clearance report. Additional permissions have been granted by the concerned forest divisions of the Assam forest department for cutting of 2,144 trees for the Kushijan FGGS from Kumsai EPS pipeline project, most of which are at least 80 to 120 years old.

As mentioned, these lowland rainforests of Upper Assam are home to several species of flora and fauna including endangered ones. Among the total 2994 trees which have been permitted for felling are 741 Hollong (Dipterocarpus retusus), Assam’s state tree, which has been listed as endangered species on The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

The biodiversity of these forests also includes 47 species of mammals, 127 species of orchids, and 310 butterflies, including the endangered slow loris, capped langur, pig-tailed macaque, Assam macaque, and the western hoolock gibbon (Hoolock hoolock).

Assam govt allows OIL to clear reserve forests for pipelines despite alternative routes (2)
Assam govt allows OIL to clear reserve forests for pipelines despite alternative routes

Other endangered species to be found in the wetland here are the rare white-winged duck (Deohanh), the state bird of Assam, and the fox-tail orchid (kopou), the state flower.

The pipeline projects, apart from intersecting with a number of elephant corridors in the reserve forests, will clear a canopy of 10 km along the Duliajan-Digboi road.

Local conservationist Mridupawan Phukan, explaining the enormity of the destruction to be caused said: “The construction of the Duliajan-Digboi road years back divided the forest into two parts thus hindering the movement of animals, especially the hoolock gibbons for years. This species does not come down to the road and only commutes from tree to tree. It took years for the canopy to be restored along the road. Now chopping these off would again restrict the movement of this endangered species. Even planting of saplings will take decades to reform the canopy.”

“The forest department can permit the cutting of trees only after such matters are considered in the National Board of Wildlife. But in this case, both OIL and forest department are violating the laws and regulations,” he said.

Meanwhile, Oil India Ltd in a report on ‘estimation of cost of forest diversion’ due to the projects has estimated the monetary loss to the environment at Rs 276.68 lakh.

Interestingly, OIL, in its project proposal, has also suggested three alternative route alignments against the now adopted 13.43 hectares of forest land at the Upper Dehing Reserve Forest.

Alternate routes proposed by OIL
Alternate routes proposed by OIL

Debojit Moran, general secretary of the nature-conservationist organization, Green Bud Society said: “Although OIL has mentioned three alternative routes, the forest department had chosen to overlook those and conveniently permitted the felling of about 3000 trees instead, that too prior to receiving any environmental clearance. The department’s actions in this regard are highly questionable.”

TC Ranjith Ram, divisional forest officer of the Digboi division claimed that all possible efforts have been made to ensure minimal damage to the forest. “We are in talks with OIL authorities and have asked them to ensure minimal disturbance to the forest ecosystem during the projects. Till now, the canopy habitats of the hoolock gibbons have not been cut, and would be retained unless it is utmost necessary to cut those trees,” the official said.

Clarifying about the environment clearance report, he added: “We do not need any environmental clearances for works like laying pipelines close to national park.”

“The trees have been enumerated (marked for felling) for the oil and gas pipeline from Arunachal Pradesh but we are yet to start work in the forest area. OIL has also paid 2 per cent of the project cost for the wildlife mitigation and conservation plan,” he added.

Pranavjyoti Sharma, the person who filed the PIL, said said: “The bench of current Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice MR Shah, while hearing an appeal of Numaligarh Refinery Ltd had held in 2018: ‘Elephants have the first right on the forest. Elephants do not go to office in a designated route. We cannot encroach upon the elephant’s area.’ (In this regard,) OIL and the forest department have actually defied the SC’s order by destroying the habitat of elephants as well as destroying the habitat of various animals through the destruction of such forests. We must be vigilant against the destruction of nature. We have the full faith on the Hon’ble Supreme Court, and we will wait for the verdict.”

Meanwhile, environmentalists and concerned locals including the All Assam Adivasi Students’ Union (Tinsukia district committee) and the All Tai Ahom Students’ Union (Dibrugarh district) are protesting against the destruction of forest cover.

(Views expressed by the writer are his own.)

Subscribe to our Newsletter


Bidyut Mahanta
About Bidyut Mahanta

-

Bidyut Mahanta is a journalist based at Naharkatia in Dibrugarh district of Assam.