THE FOREVER POLLUTANT

From production to usage to disposal, plastic is a threat to those who come in its contact SIDDHARTH GHANSHYAM SINGH

- SIDDHARTH GHANSHYAM SINGH

IF YOU are here to set up a health camp, labourers from the plant will come in droves to get tested. There are many who suffer from skin and respiratory ailments," says Rafeeq (name changed on request). Rafeeq has worked at the naphtha terminal of Indian Oil Corporation refinery in Haryana's Panipat district for over a decade. Naphtha is a by-product of the petroleum refining process from which nearly all of the world's plastic is made. "Over the past couple of years, I have developed an acute respiratory infection. As per the doctor, the likely reason is inhalation of toxic substances," Rafeeq says.

Rafeeq's is not an isolated case. In 2020, Satpal Singh, sarpanch of Singhpura Sithana village that houses the refinery, filed a case against the plant with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) for polluting the groundwater, deteriorating the air quality and negatively impacting the health of people in nearby villages. A report submitted by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute to NGT found the refinery to have affected health of more than 8,500 people between 2015 and 2019. Satnam Singh, the current sarpanch of the village, says the plant is an asset for the state and there was a lot of political pressure from the state government and the Centre to withdraw the case, which the village did in 2021.

Though the case stands withdrawn, it has brought attention to toxins associated with plastic throughout the material’s life cycle.