The mid-1970s were a testing time for the police in Bihar. Besides controlling crime and managing difficult law and order situations, considerable effort was required for bandobast for examinations, conducting raids to unearth hoarded essential commodities and enforcing collection of levy foodgrains. I was posted as Assistant Superintendent of Police at Madhepura, a backward area with erratic electric supply and poor roads. Even the water, drawn by a hand pump, was not potable. It had a distinct metallic taste and accumulated a thin film of oil if kept overnight. People ascribed this to the presence of iron and oil in the ground.
In the summer of 1974, a murder was committed in Rampur village, about twenty kilometres from Madhepura. I visited the village twice; Inspector Jha and other police officers visited the village more frequently for a fortnight. After one such visit, a very excited Inspector Jha came to my office and declared that oil had been discovered in Gangapur, a village near Rampur. He said that villagers had found natural oil seeping into a well and he had himself seen hurricane lanterns being lit with water from that well.
I was dumbfounded. I thought of sending messages about this oil strike to Patna, to bring it to the attention of the government. But I wanted to see this miracle myself first, before informing the world. So Inspector Jha and I proceeded to Gangapur. On the way, we happily discussed the impact that the discovery of oil would have on this backward area of Bihar.
It was quite a scene that met my eyes in Gangapur. The villagers were milling around a well, while some police constables tried to keep them away. The whole area smelt strongly of oil. I had a bucketful of ‘water’ drawn from the well. The liquid smelt of kerosene and burnt readily. The only suspicious aspect was that the liquid was too clear. Even with my rudimentary knowledge of petroleum, I expected the oil to be cruder, to coin a term.
I decided to investigate further and directed that more ‘water’ be taken out of the well. The villagers gleefully started taking out bucketfuls. By evening, the smell was not as strong as earlier, and the water stopped burning when lit. It became clear that there was no seepage of natural oil, but it was kerosene that was being taken out of the well.
The truth emerged after some enquiry. The fair price shop licensee of Gangapur, one Sahu, had hoarded kerosene for black marketing, instead of selling it to ration card holders. Spooked by the frequent visits of the police to neighbouring Rampur and fearing a raid, he and his henchmen had dumped about one thousand litres of kerosene into the well the previous night. With the mystery solved, Inspector Jha asked whether a case should be registered against Sahu under the Essential Commodities Act. I advised him to let Sahu go because the case would be difficult to prove. Moreover, Sahu had already suffered substantial loss!
We returned crestfallen to Madhepura, deeply disappointed that the first oil well of Bihar had turned out to be a dud!
(Published with minor editions in The Tribune on 1/2/23)