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Solid Waste Management

Disaster management centre opened

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Source : The Hindu Date : 26.06.2009

Disaster management centre opened

Staff Reporter

MALAPPURAM: The district administration opened a disaster management centre at the Collectorate here on Thursday.

Deputy Collector M.C. Venugopal inaugurated the centre.

A control room functioning round-the-clock became functional at the centre. Village disaster management committees have been formed in 23 fishing villages spread across 11 panchayats in three taluks in the coastal region of the district.

Task forces will be formed soon by training volunteers in various areas of disaster management.

Advanced disaster alert systems will be set up in seven coastal villages and the district headquarters. The control room can be reached at 0483- 2736320.

The toll-free number of the control room will be 1077.

A demonstration and training session in disaster management was organised at the Collectorate on Thursday.

Last Updated on Friday, 26 June 2009 11:51
 

Health officials charge pollution control board with double standards

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Source : The Hindu Date : 23.06.2009

Health officials charge pollution control board with double standards

Afshan Yasmeen

Some private hospitals have been exempted from setting up treatment plants

 


All hospitals above 100 beds need to have an appropriate treatment plant

‘Closing down government hospitals will affect thousands of poor patients’


Bangalore: The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) appears to have two standards — one for government hospitals and the other for private hospitals — when it comes to treatment of liquid bio-medical waste.

Last week, based on the board’s adverse report, the Lok Adalat directed it to order the closure of nine government hospitals in the city for not setting up treatment plants for bio-medical waste.

Reacting sharply, at a meeting with Medical Education Minister Ramachandre Gowda on Saturday, senior officials from the State Health Department alleged that the Pollution Control Board had exempted a few major private hospitals having more than 100 beds from setting up similar treatment plants. As per the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974, all hospitals above 100 beds need to have an appropriate treatment plant.

Two of these “beneficiaries” are prominent corporate hospitals at Halagevaderahalli in Rajajeshwarinagar and Basaveshwaranagar, which have 121 and 102 beds respectively.

The pollution control board has allowed them to discharge both domestic effluent and liquid waste on land meant for gardening and into public drains. The consent letter also states that the authorisation is valid only for 50-bed hospitals. Officials at both hospitals were not available for comment.

State Joint Director (Medical) H.C. Ramesh asked the Minister at Saturday’s meeting: “When it is mandatory for all 100-bed hospitals to have bio-waste treatment plants and when the rule is strictly being enforced for government hospitals, why is the pollution control board exempting private hospitals?”

According to documents with The Hindu, the consent granted by the board for the Rajajeshwarinagar hospital is valid till June 30 and that for the Basaveshwaranagar hospital is valid till December, 2009.

These two hospitals had in their declaration to the Government for empanelment had stated that they had more than 100 beds.

“These hospitals had declared their actual bed strength to be 121 and 102 respectively in their submission to the government for empanelment. But we rejected their requisition because they had enclosed the pollution control board’s consent letter that is suitable for 50-bed hospitals,” Dr. Ramesh told The Hindu.

Private hospitals clamour for empanelment as this will make them eligible to treat government employees under its health insurance scheme.

According to sources, the Health Department will point out these facts to the Lok Adalat in the next hearing scheduled for June 25. “The pollution control board should apply the same rules for government and private hospitals. It is impossible to close down government hospitals as it will affect thousands of poor patients,” the sources said.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 23 June 2009 03:33
 

Waste mound decaying on office premises

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Source : The Hindu Date : 21.06.2009

Waste mound decaying on office premises

Staff Reporter

— Photo: Leju Kamal

Sensitivity needed: The garbage collected from the town found dumped near the Revenue Tower at Adoor.

PATHANAMTHITTA: The municipal garbage heaped on the premises of the Revenue Tower in Adoor town has been causing pollution and posing a health risk.

Though the municipality had started a solid-waste treatment plant near Kaimalappara at Nedungottu in ward 2 eight months ago, the system has not been properly functioning for technical reasons.

The civic body has been dumping the garbage collected from various parts of the town on the Revenue Tower premises, near the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation depot in the heart of the town.

The stinking waste has become a major nuisance to hundreds of people visiting various government offices in the Revenue Tower.

The Revenue Divisional Office, the court complex, the police station and so on are located in the area.

Various socio-political and merchant organisations alleged that the irresponsible handling of solid waste had exposed the civic body’s loss of civic sense. They called for immediate removal of the waste.

Last Updated on Sunday, 21 June 2009 14:46
 


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