Hyderabad: Telangana High Court on Monday, November 6 issued notices to the Central and state governments along with 70 pharmaceutical and chemical units over the release of hazardous waste in the Jeedimetla industrial area.
In a PIL petition, the HC sought a shift of these industries outside Outer Ring Road (ORR) since they were releasing hazardous chemical effluents damaging the environment.
A bench of CJ Alok Aradhe and Justice NV Shravan Kumar directed the Union, state governments and owners of the industrial units to file their responses within four weeks.
The court was hearing a petition filed by a social worker PLN Rao of Nallakunta, stating that officials of the Centre and the member secretaries of both the Central and Telangana Pollution Control Boards (PCB) did not respond to his representation to check the industrial units from releasing hazardous chemical waste into environment.
The petitioner contended that the pungent smell emanating from these pharma and chemical companies operating from the Jeedimetla area was making people living in their vicinity vulnerable to serious health issues.
Furthermore, the petitioner’s counsel informed the bench that these companies operating production units from Jeedimetla IDA were releasing five lakh litres of chemical waste per day on average.
“They were not adhering to the Hazardous Waste Management Rules – 2016,” the advocate said. Despite submitting representation to the governments and officials of different wings concerned, no action was initiated against the management of industrial units.
Counsel brought to the notice of the court that no efforts have been made so far, to control the release of chemical effluents by the companies into the environment.
Hence, the petitioner sought a direction to evacuate the IDA and relocate them beyond ORR to protect the human population around the Jeedimetla industrial area.
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