India, April 26 -- India's legislations do not mandate it to create a baseline health assessment of the population before setting up factories with the potential of harming the environment and human health

Panipat houses a petrochemical industrial unit that is operated by Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL). In 2018, the then sarpanch (head) of a village named Singhpura Sithana had filed a case against the refinery in the National Green Tribunal (NGT), accusing it of causing groundwater pollution, air quality deterioration and negatively impacting the health of residents in the nearby villages.

A joint committee consisting of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board, Central Pollution Control Board and Council for Scientific and Industri...