Indian Express 02.02.2010
LMC dumps medical waste in the open
In what appears to be a clear violation of the Environment Protection Act, 1986, the Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) has been dumping bio-medical waste like needles, syringes and empty bottles in an open ground near Dadauli village on the city’s outskirts.
Ragpickers collect waste materials like plastic, paper and syringes from the dumping ground and some have even built shanties, leaving themselves vulnerable to various infections.
The Corporation collects bio-medical waste from 242 hospitals and nursing homes in the city. Since the Corporation does not have a shredder and microwave incinerator — the equipments required for this purpose — the needles, syringes and empty bottles are dumped on the one-hectare ground.
Rajeev Vajpayee, Executive Engineer at the Garbage Disposal Department of LMC said: “It is not a problem for us to dump the garbage there as the public does not object. It has been nearly two years since we have been dumping garbage in the area and we can continue to do so as the land belongs to the Corporation.”
The Corporation gets around 12 quintal of bio-medical waste daily. Of this, around five quintal consists of bottles, needles and syringes which are dumped in Dadauli. The rest is burnt in the incinerator at Gomti Nagar.
According to the Bio-Medical Waste (Management and Handling Rules), 1998, waste that may cause infection like needles, syringes and glass should be first made germ-free in the microwave and then shredded with the help of a shredder so that it cannot be reused. The disposal of ash from the incineration of bio-medical waste should be done in a municipal landfill.
For 20-year-old Sohagi, moving across the garbage dump strewn with plastic, used bottles, syringes and needles is a daily routine.
The garbage dump is a source of income for her and others settled in the area. She earns about Rs 350 every month and is oblivious of the danger.
“If we do not do this, then what will we eat? We collect everything that can be sold, including syringes. Our job begins at 6 am and continues till 11 am every day. The garbage keeps coming every hour,” she said.
The ragpickers in the area sell the waste to scrap dealers. “We only collect items like plastic and paper which we further sell for recycling,” said Babban, a local scrap dealer.
The Act also prescribes standards for burial of the waste. A two-metre deep trench should be half filled with waste and then covered with lime within 50 cm of surface before the rest of the pit is filled with soil. It must be ensured that animals do not have access to burial sites.
On each occasion, when waste is added to the pit, a layer of 10 cm soil shall be added to cover the wastes.
The deep burial should be impermeable and the site should be distant from habitation.
C S Bhatt, Member-Secretary of the UP Pollution Control Board said: “The way in which the bio-medical waste is being disposed off is against the rules. We will look into it and will take necessary action.”
Violation of the Environment Act, 1986, would invite a penalty of Rs 1 lakh or imprisonment up to six months or both as decided by the court.
“Earlier, there were only two people with me. But now, their family members have also shifted from Assam,” he said.
About 35 people from Bihar live nearby and many of them also earn their living picking waste from the dump.
Babban and another dealer in the area segregate the waste and sell it to big dealers.
“We segregate the waste into paper and plastic, and also by colour. Then we sell it off to dealers who come from Kanpur, Ghaziabad and Delhi,” said Arun, another dealer based in Sitapur Road.
