The National Green Tribunal has directed the District Magistrates in all the states to monitor compliance of Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules twice every month.
The NGT said that it is necessary to have a DistrictEnvironment Plan to be operated by a District Committee with representativesfrom Panchayats, Local Bodies, Regional Officers, state pollution controlboards (SPCB) and a suitable officer representing the administration, which mayin turn be chaired and monitored by the District Magistrate.
“Such District Environment Plans and Constitution ofDistrict Committee may be placed on the website of districts concerned. Themonthly report of monitoring by the District Magistrate may be furnished to theChief Secretary and may be placed on the website of the District and kept onsuch websites for a period of one year. This may be made operative from August1, 2019. Compliance of this direction may also be seen by the Chief Secretariesof the States/UTs,” a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh KumarGoel said.
The NGT directed all the states and union territories tofurnish complete inventory of health care facilities and bio-medical wastegeneration within two months.
It also expressed disapproval of the inaction of states infurnishing the inventory studies and said it is regretful to note that 25 percent of identified health care facilities have not even taken authorisationfrom the concerned state pollution control boards.
“States which have not set up common treatment anddisposal facility must do so within two months as per Rules. The States whohave not furnished the information on the bar code system may also furnish suchinformation at the earliest but not beyond two months,” the NGT said.
The tribunal said that states which have not yet constitutedState Level Advisory Committees may do so within two months.
Further important issues flagged for monitoring includetraining programs for the concerned officers with enforcement of environmentnorms at the ground level, reuse of treated water, recharge of ground water,conservation of water bodies.
“It has been brought to our notice that state pollutioncontrol boards are facing certain handicaps in performing their functions forwant of adequate staff and infrastructure. While this is a matter to bereviewed by concerned Chief Secretaries, they are free to prepare and executeappropriate plans for utilizing the environment restoration fund with theapproval of Central Pollution Control Board,” it said.
The NGT said that the expenditure may include hiring ofexperts and consultants, expanding air and water quality monitoring network,procurement of scientific equipment, undertaking restitution remediation andspecialised studies on contaminated sites so that there is effective oversightfor enforcement of law.
“Under no circumstances these funds be spent onsalaries, logistics etc. The compensation regime suggested by the CPCB may beadopted. It will be open to the SPCBs to adopt a higher scale of compensation,having regard to the problems faced in such states/UTs.
“It is made clear that if even after two months theStates/UTs are found to be non-compliant, the compensation will be liable to berecovered from the said States/UTs at the rate of Rs 1 crore per month till thenon-compliance continues. CPCB may filefurther progress report in the matter after coordination through the concernedauthorities of the States, including the State Boards/other Health Departments,”it said while posting the matter for hearing on November 18.
The green panel had earlier came down heavily on the UttarPradesh government over its inability to provide exact figure of hospitals,health care centres and nursing homes in the state and directed it to submitcomplete information within a month.
The tribunal had granted time to the Yogi Adityanathgovernment subject to the condition that it would deposit a performanceguarantee of Rs 10 crore.
It had said that the facts in respect of total number ofhospitals and other medical bodies have varied so much so that the figure givenby the Department of Medical and Health and state pollution control board aredifferent.
The direction came on a plea filed by a UP-based journalistShailesh Singh seeking directions for closure of all hospitals, medicalfacilities and waste disposal plants which were not complying with the wastemanagement rules.
It had alleged that rag-pickers were allowed unauthorisedtransportation of waste and they disposed it in an unscientific manner.The NGT had earlier said there should be nothrowing of any medical, bio-medical or any other waste into the Ganga andother water bodies and if any hospital was found throwing such waste anywherethe authorities would recover Rs 20,000 per violation from them.