Uttarakhand HC seeks report on medical waste plants

Dehradun: Hearing a PIL that alleged bio-medical waste is being disposed off along with other municipal waste, the Uttarakhand high court ordered the Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board (PCB) to file an affidavit on what steps have been taken against those that flout Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules.

A bench of chief justice Vipin Sanghi and justice Alok Kumar Verma also asked the health secretary and the forest secretary to say what steps have been taken for land allocation for setting up of bio-medical waste treatment plants in the state.

Petitioners Rajesh Pandey and Anand Mall had expressed concern over “the alarming situation, which the state government has to look at with top priority, considering the fact that the Country is still going through the pandemic of COVID-19.” They claimed that bio-medical waste is being disposed of as municipal garbage “and is being burnt in open space. It is even being put in drains, rivers and gutters.” The petitioners have placed on record photographs of illegal disposal of bio-medical waste. A photograph shows the condition of the biomedical waste treatment machine installed at a government hospital in Pithoragarh, which the petitioner claims is not working.

State PCB counsel Aditya Pratap Singh informed the court that only two bio-medical waste treatment plants (Haridwar and US Nagar) are operational.