Telangana High Court on Monday issued notices to the Central and the State governments along with 70 pharmaceutical and chemical industrial units located in Jeedimetla, in a PIL petition seeking shifting of the industries outside Outer Ring Road since they were releasing hazardous chemical effluents damaging environment.
A bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice N.V. Shravan Kumar directed the governments of the Union and Telangana State and owners of the industrial units to file their responses within four weeks. A social worker P.L.N. Rao of Nallakunta filed the petition, stating that officials of the Centre and the member secretaries of both the Central and Telangana Pollution Control Boards did not respond to his representation to check the industrial units from releasing hazardous chemical waste into environment.
The petitioner contended that pungent smell emanating from these pharma and chemical companies operating from Jeedimetla area was making people living in their vicinity vulnerable to serious health issues. The petitioner’s counsel informed the bench that these companies operating production units from Jeedimetla Industrial Area were releasing five lakh litres of chemical waste per day on an 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 managements of industrial units. No efforts were made to control releasing of chemical effluents by the companies into the environment.
The petitioner sought a direction to evacuate the industrial units and relocate them beyond Outer Ring Road so that lives of people living in and around Jeedimetla industrial area were saved.
