PIL urges relocation of ‘hazardous’ Jeedimetla chemical units beyond ORR; HC sends notice

Hyderabad: On Monday, the Telangana High Court issued notices to the state government and around 70 pharmaceutical and chemical processing companies operating in the Jeedimetla area on a PIL seeking action against the units allegedly endangering the lives of residents in the area and an order for their relocation from Jeedimetla area to areas outside Outer Ring Road (ORR).

The Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice NV Shravan Kumar, was adjudicating the Public Interest Litigation filed by PLN Rao, a social worker from Hyderabad.

The plea emphasised the inaction of the Central Government and the Telagnaana Government, the Central Pollution Control Board and the Telangana Pollution Control Board in not taking any action on the 70 pharmaceutical and chemical industries operating in the Jeedimetla area.

“The industries are emanating large amounts of dangerous pungent chemicals, endangering the lives of the people living in the vicinity of these industries including the flora and fauna, but the officials concerned are not taking any action against these industries,” the counsel for the petitioner said. Further, the petitioner sought a direction to the officials to initiate action against these industries and also a direction to relocate all these industries out of the Jeedimetla area viz., out of Outer Ring Road, to save human lives.

The counsel informed the court that out of the 300 industries operating in the Jeedimetla area, more than 70 are chemical and pharmaceutical industries and all these industries are operating their production activities from Jeedimetla IDA Limits, Hyderabad. Moreover, these industries are resorting to dumping hazardous effluents, both solid and liquid fluids, to an extent of about 5 lakh litres per day without following the Hazardous Waste Management Rules – 2016.

After listening to the arguments, the Division Bench issued notices to the secretary, Union of India, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, New Delhi, Inspector General of Forests, Ministry of Environment, member secretary, Central Pollution Control Board, New Delhi, TS Pollution Control Board, joint chief environmental engineer, TSPCB, environmental engineer Regional Office, TSPCB, director, Ground Water Department, district collector, Medchal-Malkajgiri District, MD, Sreepathi Pharmaceutical Ltd., and 69 other industries, directing them to file their response to the notices within four weeks.