Following a 24-hour observation of stock in the underground storage facility, Indian Oil Corporation has ruled out seepage of petrol and diesel from its outlet into the two open disused wells in Kanikere near Deralakatte here.
Residents on Thursday expressed concern over deposits of petrol and diesel in the two wells of Usman and Ismail that has not been in use for the last six months because of contamination. They suspected possible seepage of fuel stocked in the petrol bunk located at a higher level into the two wells located at a lower gradient.
Though ruling out seepage on Thursday, IOCL officials decided to close down operations of the petrol bunk for 24 hours to clear apprehensions among residents. IOCL officials recorded stock of petrol and diesel in the presence of police and representatives of Belma Gram Panchayat at around 1 p.m. and closed the operations of the petrol bunk for a day.
Indian Oil Corporation’s Chief Divisional Manager (Retail Sales) Anup Kushwah told The Hindu that the stock was checked at 1 p.m. on Friday and it was found to be the same as recorded on Thursday.
“There is no case of seepage of petrol and diesel from the petrol bunk,” he said. Sitaram Shetty, owner of the IOCL bunk, said that they have regularly maintained record of stock of fuel and there was no case of seepage of stock.
On Friday, senior scientific officer from Karnataka Pollution Control Board Jayaprakash Nayak and his team collected samples of water from the two wells. Mr. Nayak said that one sample will be sent for bacteriology test, while the other sample will be sent to Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited to check for fuel contamination, if any.
Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Selvamani R. said that they will get samples of water from the two wells tested for presence of bacteria and also for potability.
