State-owned Uranium Corporation of India Limited today told the Jharkhand High Court that the UCIL's mining area at Jadugoda is safe even as the court asked details of safety measures being taken by it.
The Corporation made the submission after the court recently took cognisance of a newspaper report that the waste of Jadugoda uranium mines are allegedly dumped in different ditches and ponds or in the mined area, causing health hazard to the inhabitants around the area and that drinking water was allegedly contaminated.
Representing on behalf of the public sector, advocate V Shivnath and Assistant Solicitor Mokhtar Khan informed the division bench, headed by Chief Justice R Banumathi, that the mining area is quite safe and the Corporation is quite vigilant on this front.
Further stating that the site has been inspected by a team of Atomic Energy Regulatory Board which found the mining area safe, the counsel submitted the UCIL has taken all steps to check radiation effects.
There are about 50,000 employees in the UCIL at Jadugoda and none has shown any sign of radiation effect, they said.
The court directed the UCIL to keep a vigil on safety issues and directed it to take all possible measures so that no one is affected by radiation.
It also asked the Corporation to produce details of safety measures being taken by central/state governments or the UCIL on the next date of the case after 3 months.
