The Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) sent out a show-cause notice to Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions. The notice was served following complaints that after wrapping the shoot for a film earlier this month, waste generated by his film crew, including personal protective equipment (PPE), was dumped in the Goan village of Nerul, as per a report by Goa Chronicle.
Lately, Karan Johar has been in the line of fire over the proclamation of spreading nepotism in Bollywood and also for his apparent involvement in the drug cartel following the death of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput has once again come under the hammer.
The incident got highlighted after residents of Nerul, infuriated over the foul-smelling garbage and other unsegregated waste dumped by the production house, complained to the Panchayat and even circulated photos and videos on social media.
In the clips and photos that went viral, heaps of biomedical waste including PPE kits, masks, sanitary napkins, etc, as well as unsegregated garbage and tons of plastic waste, including cutlery, were seen dumped in the area.
The report further states that the ESG took notice of the matter after LokhanchoEkvott Goa, a movement to save the villages and heritage locations of Goa, complained how a shoot by Dharma Productions, helmed by ShakunBatra and starring Deepika Padukone among others, left garbage around the Nerul area after they packed up.
The ESG said that as per the guidelines laid down by the Directorate of Health Services, all medical gears used for COVID-19 protection must be disposed of using incinerators. However, in this case, it was dumped by the roadside.
Further, by Criticising the ‘irresponsible act’ of the production house, LokanchoEkvott Goa has demanded a written apology from Karan Johar. They have also reportedly said that if Dharma Productions fails to apologize within 48 hours, the LokhanchoEkvott would courier parcels of garbage to Karan Johar’s house and the Dharma Productions’ office in Mumbai. But to this Dilip Borkar, the line producer in Goa who had been hired by the karan johar production film shared an instance on Twitter and stated that one day garbage was not picked up on time but he got it removed immediately. Similarly on the other day due to non availability of private vendors he hired and paid the panchayat garbage vendors to segregate and collect the garbage generated at the shoot location.
Later he said, all the necessary steps were taken to dispose garbage as per suggested by government and they continued to adhere to the guidelines.
Yet, karan johar has not released any statement officially on this issue.
