BERHAMPUR: Lapadanga village in Daringibadi of Kandhamal district witnessed an unusual surge of visitors as news of diesel-like substance oozing out from a crevice on a farmland spread like wildfire on Saturday.
Sources said the owner of the land, Durbasa Nayak found the substance, which smelt like diesel oozing out of the crevice in the morning when he was on his farm to take bath.
He returned and informed other villagers of the matter.
Within no time, scores of people, with bottles, buckets and even utensils in hand, thronged the farm to collect the liquid.
The fact that it smelt like fuel was enough to add to the frenzy.
Daringibadi IIC Koushik Majhi along with other police personnel reached the spot to maintain order and control the crowd.
Even as locals were pleasantly surprised by the unusual occurrence, Durbasa had to suffer as his paddy saplings were crushed by the crowd. Besides, the diesel-like substance also spread across his farm.
Though the reason for the occurrence is being probed, locals suspect it was due to leakage from a petrol pump, located around 400 metre from the spot.
However, the owner of the fuel station, Arup Kumar Sahu refuted the claim and said the fuel stock at the station is intact.
Meanwhile, BPCL authorities have asked Arup to keep his petrol pump closed till investigation into the matter by a team of experts is over.