Bhopal: The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered 14 quartz factories in Gujarat, responsible for causing silicosis to labourers from Madhya Pradesh to shut down.

Hearing public interest litigation (PIL) on the issue of silicosis, bench of Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman also ordered the chairman of the Gujarat Pollution Control Board to file Action Taken Report (ATR) without delay on another 16 units in Panchmahal district that were found to be non-compliant on pollution standards by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

The Court further ordered CPCB to prepare a status report on all related factories in other states of Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Pondicherry, Haryana and Jharkhand, on similar grounds as done for Gujarat.

Silicosis is a health condition marked by inflammation and scarring of lungs due to prolonged exposure to fine silica dust (in this case emanated by quartz crushing factories). Read more