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| February
3, 2001 |
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Liquid
Oozing From Fissures In Earth
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Joydeep Ray
Indian Express Newspapers
Vataman – Though this small village in Ahmedabad district
was not majorly damaged in last Friday's quake, a strange
phenomenon has been causing anxiety among the villagers. Split
wide open in Friday's tremors, the earth has been oozing out
liquids ever since.
Villagers say the entire place smells of sulphur and, in some
places, the earth has developed 20 feet long and four feet
deep fissures. ``First, we noticed some green, stinking liquid
oozing out like a fountain. Soon, other places in the village
reported the same phenomenon,'' said a state Public Works
Department official I.T. Gohil, who is posted at the Vataman
site office.
A few hours later, another villager noticed a similar but
larger spill on the Shelwa river bed, drawing a huge crowd
at the place.
``It was stinking and it looked like lava coming out from
a volcano. We ran from the place in fear, only to find liquids
flowing out of several other places in the village,'' said
villager Rajni Darbar. Some anxious villagers even informed
the local police and, subsequently, a police team visited
the spot. But nothing has been done to assure scared villagers
who are fleeing the place.
While state government officials are yet to visit the place,
local officers of the PWD fear the spill could have a corroding
effect on a concrete bridge constructed over river Shelwa
on state highway no. -- 4 connecting Bhavnagar and Ahmedabad.
Though the main source of spills is on the river bed, fields
which developed fissures have also been affected. A team of
local PWD officials visited the place on Tuesday and assured
villagers that a specimen of the liquid would be send for
testing to the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) and other
such organisations.
However, even 24 hours after their visit, samples have not
been collected for examination. The main source of spills
on the Shelwa river bed is still active and liquids are continuing
to flow out.
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