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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