Ambala:
A heart-stopping sight for any parent. Oil puddles splashed across a playground. This was the everyday reality of students at a primary school in Ambala. For months, they suffered fumes that they say made them nauseous. Finally, on Monday, their school has been re-located.
At the heart of the problem, an oil dump that's just 2 kilometres away. Sameer, a student says, "We get frequent headaches and suffer because of this".
The oil storage facility, several decades old, belongs to The Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL). It supplies petrol and diesel to North India, and it came up in the 60s, when hardly anyone lived in the vicinity. But since then, the population has multiplied, and the oil dumps have become a huge health hazard. Residents of the area, like Anita Kumari, say it must be shifted: "It's poison, hope government does something about it before it's too late".
The local administration has asked IOCL and HP to check the leak. "An inquiry has been ordered and if they fail we will take action against them," warns Deputy Commissioner Sameer Pal Saro.
At the heart of the problem, an oil dump that's just 2 kilometres away. Sameer, a student says, "We get frequent headaches and suffer because of this".
The oil storage facility, several decades old, belongs to The Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL). It supplies petrol and diesel to North India, and it came up in the 60s, when hardly anyone lived in the vicinity. But since then, the population has multiplied, and the oil dumps have become a huge health hazard. Residents of the area, like Anita Kumari, say it must be shifted: "It's poison, hope government does something about it before it's too late".
The local administration has asked IOCL and HP to check the leak. "An inquiry has been ordered and if they fail we will take action against them," warns Deputy Commissioner Sameer Pal Saro.
