The Ministry of Energy yesterday sent a team to investigate complaints of fuel leakage and fumes from a defunct and unsecured service station near Fyzabad junction where it is believed 5,000 gallons of fuel are still stored in underground tanks.
The investigation was in response to complaints by residents about strong fumes and fuel spilling onto their properties and the roadway from the service station when it rains.
The ministry closed down the service station in December 2012 after a legal issue arose between it and the owner Prakash Maharaj. The matter went to court and in 2014 the High Court ruled in favour of Maharaj.
The ministry, however, appealed the ruling and is awaiting judgment in the matter.
About three months after Maharaj won the matter in the High Court, the service station was gutted by fire.
Maharaj said yesterday it was the first time he returned to the site since he was “hastily” ejected from the property by the ministry.
Over the years, he said, thieves made off with several things including his vault containing a few thousand dollars and the steel and copper covers for the underground tanks, leaving them exposed.
He said the ministry had initially posted a guard at the station, but neighbours told him they have not seen the guard for sometime now.
Maharaj said he received complaints by residents about the gas fumes, but he could do nothing as he was not allowed to enter the property so he referred them to the ministry.
Maharaj said they have since found out that there is less than 5,000 gallons of fuel, including diesel, super and premium, in the underground tanks.
“Fyzabad could have been a catastrophe, that gas could have exploded. Everybody would have gotten damage down by the junction there. When the rain falls the water goes into the tank and the gas rises and runs down the hill so all those neighbours were complaining.”
Also on the site was Fyzabad MP Dr Lackram Bodoe who said he wrote to Energy Ministry Nicole Olivierre about the situation in 2015.
Apart from overgrown bushes, stagnant water and a rodent-haven posing a serious health hazard, he said the unsecured site was also a potential disaster zone.
“Because it is an open site and you would have seen there are open tanks there is the possibility of a fire and a potential explosion that could endanger the lives of the surrounding residents. In fact, some of the residents have already complained that when the rains falls the water overflows from the tanks and washes down with gas and carries fumes and so on, so it is really affecting their health.”
Bodoe said it was worrying that the site was not cordoned off and the tanks emptied.
He called for a speedy resolution to the matter. Resident and proprietor Issac Reedhi was relieved the situation was finally being addressed.
Reedhi recalled, “For the past while we have been having some gas smell everytime the rain falls but last month it was overbearing because the rain fell so heavy that even the road flood with gas and we could not even stay in our home. We have a little baby here. We had to take the baby and come out the house and stay outside until the scent pass.”
Subsequent to that, he said, his three-year-old son started complaining about “belly pains” and had to stay away from school for three weeks.
Another resident Steve Ramdeen, 51, who lives next door to the service station, said the gas mixed with flood water entered his property and destroyed his vegetable crops.
“It affected me because if I light anything I could ah catch ah fire.”
Ramdeen wants to be compensated for his loss.
The team, including representatives from the Ministry, National Petroleum Company and Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (Cariri), took samples of the liquid from the tanks for testing.
The ministry’s senior corporate communications officer Rory Subiah confirmed the matter was being investigated by the ministry.