Bio-medical Waste Disposal Shimla treatment plant to be shut down soon Kuldeep Chauhan Tribune News Service Mandi/Kullu, September 3 The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has issued notices under Section 5 of the Environment Act to the Shimla Municipal Commissioner (SMC) to shut down the bio-medical waste treatment plant at Shimla and start the new treatment plant at Solan. It has also directed private operators to manage bio-medical waste treatment plants in Kullu and Pathankot properly. The CPCB has found that the private operators and government agencies had not installed the “mandatory double-chamber incinerators” to check the release of harmful gases into the air in Shimla, Recong Peo and Mandi. The CPCB has asked the State Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board (SEPPCB) to immediately operate the biomedical waste treatment plant at Solan so that bio-medical waste generated in Shimla, Solan, Sirmaur and other peripheral areas is collected and dispose of safely at the plant. The CPCB gave the directions after it inspected the biomedical waste treatment plants recently and held a compliance meeting with various stakeholders and private operators, including the SMC, in New Delhi. Environo Engineers, which runs the Kullu bio-medical waste treatment plant, has installed the double-chamber incinerator both at Kullu and Solan as directed by the CPCB and got its clean chit, said HR Thakur, company manager. While the Kullu plant took care of the hazardous biomedical waste generated in government and private hospitals from Mandi, Kullu and Bilaspur districts, the Pathankot bio-medical plant took care of wastes generated in Una, Kangra, Chamba and Hamirpur districts, said the SEPPCB officials. The Mandi incinerator worth a crore of rupees was shut down two years ago, as it malfunctioned. The Recong Peo incinerator in Kinnaur did not have the double-chamber technology, sources revealed. Even as the Kullu plant has the latest double-filter devices in its incinerator, the plant site still stinks. The residents complain that they smell toxic gases released from the plant and dead animal carcasses and no-biodegradable waste litter the treatment plant site, sending hazardous fumes in villages in the Baghi gram panchayat. As a result, Baghi gram sabhas recently passed a resolution asking the municipal bodies to shift both plants to other non-populated site. The SEPPCB and the Kullu Municipal Council had not obtained a no-objection certificate from the panchayat, alleged the gram sabha. Vineet Kumar, member-secretary, SEPPCB, claimed that the Kullu and Pathankot plants had been approved by the CPCB, while the Shimla plant was being shut. The bio-medical waste of Shimla would be disposed of in the Solan plant being started soon.
Posted on: Wed, 04 Sep 2013 01:45:52 +0000
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