New from me: Four months since a gas well blew out in Baghjan spilling oil condensate in the wetlands and river and contaminating the air with formaldehyde - the residents remain in the dark about how all of this is affecting their health https://www.thethirdpole.net/2020/10/01/victims-of-assam-gas-explosion-fear-mounting-health-costs/

With sound levels > 70dB and a 'heaviness in the air', residents of Baghjan village suffer headaches, nausea and anxiety with no idea of long term health impacts or whether they will get proper compensation. Sit in protests outside the DC office in Tinsukia continues till date.

What I found strange was that residents, including those in relief camps, had not been relocated far away from Baghjan. OIL says the impact radius was limited to 1.5 km while the NGT said oil spill was within 2km but the effects of gases felt > 9km away

When I visited Baghjan, the relief camps and the houses where people were living were less than a KM away. Take the case of Oitendra Das, a fisherman, who lived just 300 mts from the burning gas well. He lives there with his wife and 3 kids including a son born on July 15

“I don’t even know what we’ve been inhaling all these months now,” said Sumitra Mallah, who had a still birth in August. OIL claims to have been monitoring the impact on community health and conducting awareness camps. They've also deputed doctors on mobile vans for check ups

But the residents clearly haven't got the health memo, as yet.

Dilip Mallah tells me that they know more about the dangers of COVID-19 than the effects the gases or the sound level is having on their physical and mental health.

Even the neighbourhood ASHA worker was equally clueless about the health impact of the blowout. She has been given the same supply of medicines from the govt with no additional info or meds for the headaches, nausea, watery eyes, anxiety and palpitations residents are suffering

From OIL’s monitoring of the community’s heath, irritation in the eyes and skin were the common symptoms, which persisted for weeks following the blowout. “We treated this by giving antibiotic eye drops and antiseptic emollient cream,” said their spokesperson.

Public health specialist @rakhalgaitonde said that while poverty and other environmental factors can lead to chronic conditions it is important to study systematically the impact of new disasters on the health of people.

. @RachnaDhingra @CemShweta who have worked on the aftermath of industrial disasters say that long term health impact often gets ignored in rehabilitation packages.

If assessment isn't carried out from day 1, illnesses that develop later get attributed to chronic health issues

Govt officials unofficially told me that medical officers were over burdened with handling COVID-19 crisis. The NGT committee is still looking for physicians and psychologists to make an onsite investigation.

Please RT this thread and ask @sarbanandsonwal to dispatch on priority