Rampher, Niranjan Lal, Ramakant Pandey, Udai Singh are just four victims of lethal work conditions at Indraprastha and Rajghat thermal power stations that are within about 2 km of each other on Ring Road in the heart of Delhi between December 1997 and January this year.

``In every shift we sometimes examine nearly 50 workers (of a work force of 1,200), most of them complaining of respiratory disorders,'' says Dr R. Kler at I P State power house. ``Out of these patients, nearly 15 suffer from pulmonary diseases like TB or asthama . There are also many who complain of hearing disorders,'' the doctor added.

``I have been suffering from bronchitis and for the last two years I have had this horrendous cough that has forced me to go on two months leave at a stretch,'' said P.S.Sahdev, a chemist at the IP power house laboratory.

The laboratory is used to test the quality of coal, oil and water used in the power house. ``The toxic fumes that emerge from the tests or when the water is treated can sometimes be suffocating,'' said R.S. Chowdhary, president of the Laboratory Sangathan.

``Ten people have died in our department during the last three years due to respiratory disorders. Though I have fours years left for retirement I am not physically fit to work anymore,'' said chemist Sahdev, adding that none of them have been provided with any masks.

``My husband, Ashok, died on June 21, 1997, after his lungs got infected with the toxic fumes in the laboratory,'' said Sudesh Chopra adding that none of the medicines worked on him as the doctors said that the inhalation of toxic fumes had damaged his resistance. He later died of cancer.

Attar Singh, who works in the laboratory of IP Station, has a lung infection as a result of which he gets into frequent bouts of cough. ``The acid fumes that we inhale at work cause a lot of damage,'' said Singh, who has not been attending work for the last two months. He has two more years left for retirement.

``Attar is suffering from a pulmonary disorder which may have aggravated due to the inhalation of toxic fumes,'' said Dr A K Dave, a private practitioner treating Attar.

When this reporter visited the IP Power House, not one worker was seen wearing a mask. ``We have fewer farewells and more condolence meeting every month,'' said a worker rather dramatically.

``People working in such an environment are more prone to asthama and bronchitis which may have been one of the reasons for the aggravation of Ashok's ailment,'' pointed Dr J M S Kalra from the Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Hospital. He cautioned that in such an environment three drugs must be readily available: deriphylin, lasix and efporlin. Also, an easily accessible oxygen cylinder and masks for workmen working in hazardous environments like the boiler unit or the laboratory are mandatory, added Dr Kalra.

On the two occasions that this reporter visited the IP power plant, once she was informed that there was no oxygen cylinder available and on the second occasion a worker said there indeed was one which had not been refilled in the last ten years.

At the Rajghat power station, Dr S.M. Bawa blasely pointed out that the oxygen cylinder was not needed ``as in an emergency we can rush the patient to Lok Nayak hospital'' a scant 2 km away.

``I have been working here for the last 30 years and because of the noise generated when the plant is in operation, I have almost become deaf,'' said Alfred at IP power station. Significantly, Alfred speaks at an inordinately high volume - also a hazard of working in high-decibel conditions.

``My whole body feels weak. I suffer from TB,'' said R D Sharma who works with the demineralised water plant where the acid fumes have endangered the health of many workers at IP power station.

Others like S K Gupta and Gyan Singh who work with the boiler plant say that the masks they were provided a few months back were disposable ones and they never got new ones. ``As the mask is disposable it starts to stink after being used in one shift,'' pointed Gupta who prefers to wear a cotton duster over his face while working.

``I have a burning sensation in my chest all the time and the authorities, despite our repeated requests, have failed to provide us with masks,'' lamented Pok Pal.

``I have to be appraised of the requirements of the workers. I cannot go around asking every worker on what they require,'' said chief safety officer G.P.Kumavat. ``We provide protective gear on request,'' he added.

``The ailments of the workers here gets aggravated as they consume a high quantity of alcohol,'' pointed G D Agarwal additional chief engineer (generation) at I P Power House.

``We draw sewage water from the Yamuna river which has high content of toxins and adds on the pollution,'' said Agarwal. The plant at IP State was designed to handle 20 to 35 per cent ash whereas now it is handling 38 to 45 per cent ash.

The office of the World Health Organisation (WHO), opposite the IP Power House in a letter dated January 7, 1998, had pointed that the emission of high-level of noise from the power house caused disturbance to their staff members.

The IP station employees union has prepared a list of 69 people who died in service either due to an ailment or an accident between April 21, 1994 to January 26, 1998.

``Ash management is one of the issues of concern in the power houses at Rajghat and I P State,'' said B Sengupta additional director at the Central Pollution Control Board adding that in the last decade over Rs 20 crore had been spent to control pollution in these two power houses.

``The second largest source of pollution in the Capital after vehicles is by the power houses in Delhi, thereby polluting the environment,'' said president Delhi Medical Association Dr Rajesh Chawla.

``The environment conditions are hazardous as workers have to bear with coal, fly ash, high level of noise and high temperature,'' said member technical (DVB) Y P Singh without commenting on the number of deaths that had taken place due to these factors.

``In such a situation one is bound to get infected with such diseases, but we do conduct periodic screening of the workers,'' said Singh adding that the workers did not prefer to wear masks.

The IP power station was commissioned in 1963 and Rajghat in 1988. Over one lakh tonnes of coal is dropped in the IP power house every month.