Karan Johar's Dharma production under fire for polluting Goa

Kangana Ranaut also condemned the unit for dumping massive, untreated waste amid shooting Deepika Padukone's next

Filmmaker Karan Johar's production house, Dharma Productions is being slammed by environmentalists for dumping waste in a Goan village during a film shoot, according to the Hindustan Times.

A unit of Deepika Padukone and Shakun Batra’s upcoming film was shooting in Goa over a month. There have been reports that the crew dumped waste such as plastic utensils and used PPE kits at the village.

Following a backlash from environmentalists over the news, actor Kangana Ranaut also jumped the bandwagon and condemned Karan and the film industry’s ‘appalling attitude’.

She retweeted a video of the alleged waste dump created by the Dharma crew in the village and wrote, “The film industry is not only a virus for the moral fibre and culture of this nation but has become very destructive and harmful for the environment also."

Movie industry is not a virus just for the moral fibre n culture of this nation but it has become very destructive and harmful for the environment also, @PrakashJavdekar ji @moefcc see this disgusting,filthy,irresponsible behaviour by so called big production houses, pls help 🙏 https://t.co/EZfzrIWz06

— Kangana Ranaut (@KanganaTeam) October 27, 2020

Ranaut went on to tag authorities in order to alert them against the matter. "@PrakashJavdekarji @moefcc see this disgusting, filthy, irresponsible behaviour by our so called big production houses, please help."

She went on to claim that the company's "insensitive and inconsiderate attitude is absolutely appalling." Adding that film units needed to set rules in order to ensure women safety, modern ecological resolves, good medical facilities and food quality check for workers.

"We need government to assign a proper department to inspect these aspects,” added Ranaut.

As per an IANS report, the waste was dumped at Nerul, a village 10km from Goan capital Panaji. Lokhancho Ekvott Goa, a group working for Goa’s environmental health has demanded an apology from Karan and even threatened to ‘courier’ the dumped waste back to his office in Mumbai.

Health minister of Goa, Vishwajit Rane is quoted as saying, “It is not right to dump waste in the open. When permission was given for the film shoot, conditions ought to have been added in guidelines that the entity will dispose of the waste,” Rane said.

Flynn Remedios of Lokhancho Ekvott added, “Would the firm dare dump piles of garbage at Juhu or Lokhandwala or Versova in Mumbai? There would have been a hue and cry immediately. Dumping of garbage by the roadside is a crime and is prohibited by local laws in Goa. Corporates and hotels as well as individual households are required to segregate wet and dry garbage and bio medical waste has to be packed in specially labelled bags. However, Dharma Productions packed all the luggage together with scant respect for the environment and dumped it by the picturesque roadside, where animals vandalised it making the situation worse.”

Karan or Dharma Productions have not reacted to the controversy.

Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below.