Tailing pond of UCIL at Jadugoda. File picture

Jamshedpur, Aug. 17: Toxic and radioactive waste engulfed Dungridih village, around 60km from here, late last night due to leakage in a pipe of Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL).

The UCIL officials rushed to the spot this morning to plug the leak in the pipe carrying uranium mill tailing (waste) to the tailing pond even as blame game over the episode started.

While the UCIL authorities have ordered a probe into the incident suspecting villagers’ hand, Jharkhandi Organisation Against Radiation (Joar) alleged that the gas leakage took place last night due to the carelessness of the UCIL authorities. Assuaging the terror among the villagers following the gas leak, chairman-cum-managing director of UCIL Ramendra Gupta said: “The pipe was repaired this morning and the situation is under control. The leakage, caused due to dislocation of a rubber flange, was minimum and there is nothing to worry about. Since the incident has taken place third time in a year on the same spot, we have decided to probe the issue,” said Gupta.

Reasoning that the incident could be the handiwork of the villagers, Gupta said around 25 local residents were demanding employment in the company.

Earlier, leakage developed in the UCIL pipe in December, 2006 and February 22 this year.

“After the second spill over, the UCIL had decided to relocate all the villagers residing near the pipeline. But the company has failed to take any step on the relocation front till now,” said Sriprakash, a member of the Joar.

“The company should ensure security of the pipe if it fears any kind of sabotage. The UCIL should come forward and initiate its relocation drive announced after the second leakage earlier this year. It cannot play with the life of people like this,” added Sriprakash.

Conceding that the villagers should be relocated, the UCIL authorities maintained that they were taking steps to initiate the rehabilitation of villagers. “The villagers are residing on the land acquired by us. We will relocate all the villagers residing near the pipe soon to avert any untoward incident,” said Gupta.

He, however, refuted the claims that the pipe was damaged as the UCIL was not following the safety guidelines.