Kerala cleared 30 truckloads of refuse, including biomedical waste from Kerala’s hospitals, dumped in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu by a private waste collection agency. The two-day waste collection operation was completed on Monday, December 23.The Local Self-Government Department (LSGD) in Kerala has formed a committee chaired by Joint Director Mohammed Huwaiz to identify and take action against those responsible for illegal waste dumping.
Speaking to TNM, RS Gopakumar, Health Officer, Thiruvananthapuram City Corporation, said that according to the Tamil Nadu police, Sunage Eco System Pvt. Ltd, an agency based in Thiruvananthapuram, is behind the illegal dumping. The government has sent a show cause notice to the agency and will take further action after receiving their response.
The illegal waste dumping came to light on December 17 following a news report in The New Indian Express. Medical documents bearing the name of Regional Cancer Centre (RCC), a state-owned cancer care hospital and research centre in Kerala, were found in one of the locations, which pointed to the origin of medical waste. Apart from RCC, the leave application documents of doctors from Credence Hospital & IVF Centre, a private establishment from Kerala were also found from the spot.
On December 19, the National Green Tribunal, Southern Zone, directed Kerala to take the responsibility of removing the waste. On December 22, Kerala officials led by Sakshi Mohan IAS, Assistant Collector, Thiruvananthapuram, on training, visited the site to supervise the waste retrieval.
The cleared waste was taken to the Kerala Enviro Infrastructure Limited (KEIL), Ambalamedu in Ernakulam for processing.
Gopakumar said negligence was not only on part of the agency but also the hospitals including the RCC, which failed in proper source-level segregation of waste. "The waste found in these locations are not entirely biomedical waste. However, there are small amounts of biomedical waste present. There are plastic boxes used for storing medicines containing syringes. This highlights a source-level segregation failure, as they should have been sorted at the hospital itself as plastic boxes and syringes separately. The government has asked the hospitals to explain this in the notice," he said.
There was also negligence in handing over the non-biodegradable waste, Gopakumar said. As per the rule, non-biodegradable waste should be handed over to Haritha Karma Sena, part of Kerala government’s Haritha Keralam Mission. But the hospitals handed it over to a private agency.
“Thiruvananthapuram city corporation had issued a notice to all institutions and establishments, instructing them to hand over all non-biodegradable waste to Haritha Karma Sena. But the RCC and other establishments, whose waste was dumped in Tirunelveli, had given it to the private waste collection agency. The hospitals have also been asked to explain this,” he added.
