For a few hours on Friday morning, a cluster of villages in Maoist-hit Dantewada thought it was a miracle. That they had struck liquid gold, and their wells had magically turned into oil wells overnight. Villagers drew out bucketfuls of petrol.
Nearby villages joined in too. There was plenty to go around! The land rates would skyrocket, they thought. But the euphoria vapourised as cops and district officials swarmed the hamlets and went door to door, asking for the petrol to be returned.
Power supply shut to avoid 'disaster' at MP petrol leak site The oil-in-a-day's work drama happened in Geedam region. When residents of a few villages went to the wells for their morning ablutions, they were surprised when it smelled like petrol. When they drew up buckets of water, what they got was petrol.
News spread like wildlife. Gleeful villagers gathered the oil by the bucketful. The 'happy news' reached the administration as well.
Officials were alarmed at the potential of a fire disaster and rushed teams to the villages. Officials of a petroleum PSU also arrived. They found that wells were indeed swimming with petrol.
A quick check revealed that owner of a nearby fuel pump was bewildered at losing 14,000-litre petrol and had filed a police complaint, suspecting it was stolen. Officials believe the petrol leaked out of an underground 16,000-litre reservoir. Police have sealed off the wells to ensure there is no accident.
Fire tenders have been positioned. Electricity supply was shut fo.