Bokaro, Aug. 31: Officials of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and the state pollution control board on Monday went for a recce at Parbatpur in Chandankiyari block, around 32km from Bokaro steel city, where the PSU major is executing an ambitious coal bed methane (CBM) project.

Led by senior executives S.N.K. Hayat and N.K. Punjrat, ONGC officials interacted with villagers living in the project area and heard their concerns and demands.

During the 3-hour-long visit, the ONGC officials assured the villagers of a host of development programmes, including roads, schools and healthcare facilities, as part of the PSU's corporate social responsibilities.

"We are committed to developing this zone and taking all possible measures, including an afforestation drive, to check environment pollution here," said Hayat.

The ONGC is implementing a Rs1,450-crore CBM project at Parbatpur (Bokaro) and Jharia (Dhanbad).

Under the project, which was launched way back in 1997, the PSU major will dig a total of 77 wells - 53 at Parbatpur and 24 at Jharia.

According to ONGC officials, the state-run corporation has already started production from 14 of the 53 proposed wells at Parbatpur.

And buoyed over the excellent output from the 14 wells, which are collectively churning out 8,000 cubic metres of CBM per day, the ONGC is now planning to speed up work on this project.

"We are looking forward to increasing the production to about 8 lakh cubic metres per day over the next two years," said Hayat.

However, before scaling up the production, ONGC wanted to address local people's grievances.

During the visit, most of the villagers, hundreds in number, raised the issue of fast depleting underground water level in Parbatpur zone.

Senior member of the pollution board's Dhanbad division D.P. Singh asked the ONGC officials to look into the villagers' complaints.

The villagers also demanded jobs for those who had given up their land. "We have given away our ancestral land for this project. But we have not been given any job at the project," said R.S. Mahto, a villager.