The Hindustan Unilever and 591 workers who were allegedly exposed to toxic mercury vapour during their employment at its thermometer factory in Kodaikanal announced the signing of a settlement.
The undisclosed settlement comes more than 10 years after the former workers filed a petition in the Madras High Court seeking economic rehabilitation.
The memorandum of settlement was recorded in an order passed by the court. The former employees have confirmed this as a full and final settlement of their claims and demands. They will now withdraw their petition from the court.
The thermometer factory was shut in 2001 by the state pollution control board following allegations of toxic mercury being dumped in Kodaikanal.
In 2015, a video by Chennai-born rapper Sofia Ashraf which takes an undisguised jab at Unilever for its failure to clean up mercury contamination, went viral.
A central government appointed committee found around 45 people had died and over 600 poisoned as a result of toxic dumping.
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