Pollution board to Patna HC: Bio-medical wastes not being disposed properly in state

PATNA: The Bihar State Pollution Control Board (BSPCB) on Friday accepted before Patna high court that bio-medical wastes generated from hospitals across state are not getting disposed in regulated manner they should have been.
BSPCB, in a counter affidavit submitted before division bench of chief justice Rajendra Menon and Justice Rajeev Ranjan Prasad, also accepted that district level monitoring committee (DLMC), which is headed by respective district magistrates, are not functioning due to which such a situation has arose.
BSPCB appraised high court that National Green Tribunal (NGT) had held DLMCs responsible for proper disposal of bio-medical waste.
The court ordered the state government to reply within three weeks’ time that DLMC were not functioning properly and what steps are being taken to resolve the issue.
BSPCB conducted a sample study of 181 health care facility with more than ten beds and found that most of them were flouting rules and regulations for disposing bio-medical waste.
The bench was hearing a public interest litigation filed by Vikash Chandra alias Guddu Baba in 2016 alleging that bio-medical wastes are only being shown to be disposed completely on papers while in the reality, they are being dumped in open areas along with garbage in almost all districts of Bihar.
According to counter affidavit submitted by Chandra before high court, Bihar has mere three common bio-medical waste treatment facilities (CBWTF) located at Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) in Patna, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital (JLNMCH) at Bhagalpur and at industrial area in Bela of Muzaffarpur district. All these three are run by private agencies. These CBWTF are paid for disposing the wastes.
Chandra had apprised court that incinerator at IGIMS is responsible for disposal of waste generated in Patna, Bhojpur, Buxar, Nalanda, Rohtas and Kaimur, the one at Bhagalpur disposes bio-waste generated in 17 district while wastes generated in rest 15 districts are handled by one at Muzaffarpur.
“Such is the situation that waste generated in Aurangabad is shown to be disposed at Bhagalpur which is at least 340 kilometres away. All these are only being shown on papers for several years while in reality, bio-medical wastes are thrown on roadside in every district including Patna which results pollution of environment and health problems,” Chandra had submitted before court.
The BSPCB, represented by counsels Shivendra Kishore and Abhimanyu Singh, accepted in their affidavits that a CBWTF is allowed to dispose waste generated maximum within 150 kilometres radial distance if 10,000 beds area not available in 75 kilometres radial distance according to Bio-medical Waste Management Rules, 2016. According to the rules, biomedical waste must be collected, treated and disposed within 48 hours.
BSPCB counsels also submitted that letter was written to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to grant permission setting-up three more CBWTFs in Bihar as present capacity is not enough to dispose wastes generated following which CPCB was also made a respondent in the matter.