PESHAWAR: Two local council chairmen on Saturday petitioned the Peshawar High Court against the presence of oil depots near a school in a residential area in Taru area of Nowshera district.

They also complained that the depots didn’t have proper parking spaces for oil tankers.

In the joint petition, chairman of the Pabbi tehsil council Ghayur Ali Khan and head of the Tarkha village council Taimur Iqbal requested the court to declare that the oil storage facilities situated adjacent to a higher secondary school in a residential area are dangerous and hazardous to health and should be relocated.

They also sought court orders for respondents, including the federal petroleum secretary, provincial chief secretary and some leading petroleum companies, to ensure that oil tankers and vehicles are parked at a safe area away from school gates and the residential area and that tankers don’t use a village road.

The petition, filed through advocate Ijaz Ahmad Malik, included as respondents the federal government through petroleum secretary, KP chief secretary, chairman of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority, provincial environment secretary, deputy commissioner of Nowshera, assistant commissioner of Pabbi, president of the All Pakistan Oil Tankers Association, managers of PSO, Shell, Parco and Caltex petroleum companies, and Pabbi tehsil municipal officer.

Local council chairmen also complain about lack of proper tanker parking spaces

The petitioners said that “bulk oil depots” had been established along GT Road near Taru and on a branch road of village Tarkha in tehsil Pabbi for the storage and supply of highly inflammable materials and oil by a number of petroleum distribution companies.

They said the PSO oil depot was situated adjacent to Government Higher Secondary School for Boys, Taru, threatening the lives of more than 2,000 students enrolled.

The petitioners said that in the past, a major fire had broken out in the private parking of oil tankers.

They said that the main gate of the depot opened towards the GT Road, adjacent to the school, while a number of oil tankers were regularly parked around the entrance of the school.

They said that the school was opened long before the establishment of the oil depot. The petitioners said the “bulk oil depots” of other companies had no proper entry and exit road, so tankers used the common public village road, deteriorating its condition.

They added that those companies had established a number of illegal parking areas within the village adjacent to residential areas.

The petitioners claimed that those parking lots had no proper security and safety protocols for people to prevent untoward incidents.

They said that there were no proper arrangements for fire control, including the presence of fire tenders.

The petitioners said the tankers, filled with highly inflammable materials and oil, remained parked for 15-20 days waiting for oil unloading, so they posed a major threat to public life.

They insisted that those depots, which could store more than 80 million litre oil, didn’t obtain NOC from the tehsil municipal administration, Environmental protection Agency and district administration.

The petitioners said that the tehsil council had also passed a resolution for the relocation of depots, which threatened the lives and health of residents.

They also complained that the two high court judgements on the matter hadn’t been implemented.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2025