Director-producer Karan Johar who has been in the line of fire over allegations of propagating nepotism in Bollywood and also for his alleged involvement in the drug cartel following the death of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput has once again come under the hammer. The Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) has issued a Show Cause Notice to his production house- Dharma Productions on October 25 following complaints that a lot of waste generated by the film crew, including personal protective equipment (PPE), was dumped in the Goan beach village of Nerul after shooting was completed earlier this month.
The Entertainment Society of Goa had taken cognisance after Lokhancho Ekvott Goa, a social movement to save the villages and heritage of Goa, reported how a shoot by Karan Johar owned Dharma Productions, directed by Shakun Batra and starring Deepika Padukone and others, left tonnes of trash around that area after pack up.
The issue came to the fore after residents and locals of Nerul outraged over the stinking and rotting garbage and other unsegregated waste, dumped by the production house. They complained to the panchayat and circulated images and videos of the uncleared garbage on social media.
Videos and photos of piles of garbage dumped in Goa by Dharma Production’s crew goes viral on social media
Photos of a swathe of land covered in plastic and other waste in the village did the rounds on social media platforms after shooting wrapped up more than a week ago. Piles of biomedical waste including PPE kits, masks, sanitary napkins, etc. and unsegregated garbage, and tons of plastic waste, including plates, glasses and cutlery were seen dumped in the area.
The locals alleged that the garbage generated out of the shoot per day was nearly equivalent to 10 days of garbage generated by the entire village. What made matters worse was that the garbage was not segregated and packed all-together in huge garbage bags which were left by the Nerul roadside. Stray animals attacked the garbage, tearing up the bags and causing the garbage to scatter and be strewn about the entire roadside.
It is pertinent to note here that according to the Directorate of Health Services protocol, all medical gear, including PPEs and other gear used for Covid-19 protection should be scientifically disposed of, using incinerators.
Biomedical waste, including PPEs from health centres and government hospitals, is routinely sent to the Goa Medical College (GMC) and hospital’s disposal facility. However, in this case, it was dumped by the roadside, said ESG.
“Will courier parcels of garbage, biomedical waste to Dharma Productions”, activists in goa demands apology from Karan Johar
Miffed by this extremely careless behaviour, the Lokhancho Ekvott – a group of activists in Goa has demanded a public written apology from Dharma Productions and Karan Johar. The Lokhancho Ekvott spokesperson had said they would move the Bombay High Court bench at Goa next week, against Dharma Productions for breaking the laws of the land and not even attempting to make amends.
Lambasting at the production house, the group of activists had said that if Dharma Production and Karan Johar does not apologize to Goa and its people within 48 hours, the Lokhancho Ekvott would courier parcels of garbage to Karan Johar’s house and the Dharma Productions office in Mumbai.