Kendrapada: A major disaster appears to have been averted in the port town of Paradip on Friday after senior officials of Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) and others plugged the damaged petrol oil pipeline near gate no. 1 of the port.“The petrol was being transported through a pipeline from the oil jetty near Nehru bungalow to the oil terminal near Bauripalanda village when the leakage was spotted. As soon as the leakage was detected, the IOCL maintenance team present at the site immediately swung into action to arrest the leakage. Further, the spilled furnace oil was salvaged through Mobile Oil Spill Recovery Unit (MOSRU) prior to cleaning the area. The pipeline was continuously monitored on Friday to identify further leakages throughout the jetty line. No further leakages were found at any other place,” said RK Sahoo, an official of IOCL.Nevertheless, despite averting a major catastrophe, the incident has renewed concerns over the safety of the oil pipeline and its impact on the environment , said Sudhanshu Parida, an environmentalist and secretary of the district unit of Peoples for Animal.
