VASCO
In a bid to trace the contamination of wells and water bodies in Matvem-Dabolim, the Zuari Indian Oil Tanking Ltd (ZIOTL) has turned to a specialised dog from Punjab to sniff out a possible leakage in their pipeline.
The dog on Wednesday identified three spots and ZIOTL officials have begun excavations on these sites.
"We received a proposal that the dog is excellent in the detection of leakages, especially petroleum products, and that the dog had been successful in detection of petroleum products from underground pipelines elsewhere in North India,” said a senior official in the company.
“Our company has now engaged this service and we got the dog to sniff and detect any leakage in the pipeline. We have simultaneously been excavating our sites around the pipeline but we have not managed to find any leakage as of now.”
The official said ‘Urus’, the male Belgian Malinois breed dog, had to be brought in a special vehicle to Goa.
“Since the dog cannot be taken by flight or train, we decided to provide a special vehicle to get Urus to Goa. The dog travelled for over 72 hours to reach Goa along with three other persons, including a trainer of the dog,” said the official.
The official said the dog was taken to the well at Matvem, as soon as it arrived on Tuesday.
“However, on seeing so many people who had been agitating, the dog got nervous. We then decided that the dog had travelled for over 72 hours and would be extremely tired.”
“It would be totally unfair for us to put pressure on the animal and the team immediately upon arrival. We then sent the dog to our company to rest and provided them a stay facility.”
“The dog was taken to the site on Wednesday and it travelled along the petroleum line for around 3 kms, from Birla Temple to the Railway Crossing. The dog has identified three spots and we have begun excavation on these sites. We will check the details on Thursday," the official added.
