Locals express concern over burning of waste materials in hospital campus

TINSUKIA: The residents of Sector-1 of Bordoloi Nagar, Tinsukia have been raising persistent objections to the regular open burning of solid waste materials within the Tinsukia Civil Hospital campus, causing serious environmental pollution in the vicinity as well as health hazards for the residents of nearby areas in gross violation of the Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2016.

Though the inhabitants in a joint petition urged the hospital authority to initiate appropriate and immediate measure to stop such harmful practice, the residents alleged that the authority ignored the plight of the public and continued the unethical practice unabated. Though it could not be established whether a district hospital like GNB Civil Hospital has functional incinerator, locals alleged that the hospital authority burns plastic, hazardous thrash and discarded belongings of COVID patients. The Deputy Commissioner of Tinsukia was made aware of this issue recently.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) notified Bio-medical Waste (Management & Handling) Rules, 1998 which was subsequently amended as Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016 and then Bio-Medical Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2018 to protect the environment and human health from infectious bio-medical waste. The Rule also mandated that the State Pollution Control Boards/ Pollution Control Committees have to compile, review and analyze the information received and to send the information to the Central Pollution Control Board periodically.

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