Shimla: The pollution board of Himachal Pradesh has issued show-cause notices to 21 institutions for violating bio-medical waste disposal norms.
Health-care institutions in the northern Indian state that come under a 1998 law governing bio-medical waste have increased from 718 to 764 in the past three years. They now generate 2.05 ton waste daily.
So, the Himachal Pradesh State Pollution Control Board strictly monitors proper disposal of bio-medical waste in the state as mandated by the Bio-medical Waste Rules of 1998.
The board also organized a workshop to sensitise the stakeholder institutions at Shimla, the state capital, on October 24.
To ensure proper disposal of bio-medical waste, the board has authorised two common bio-medical waste disposal facilities at Kullu and Solan and three captive incineration facilities in Himachal.
Besides this, the bio-medical waste disposal facilities at Pathankot in Punjab cater to the Kangra, Una, Hamirpur and Chamba region. In these facilities daily dispose 1,101 kg bio-medical waste through incineration and 149 kg by deep burial methods. The remaining 800 kg waste generated in a day is recyclaed.
The state board also keeps strict vigil on air emissions in the common bio-medical waste disposal facility. For this it has installed online emission monitoring systems in both common bio-medical waste treatment facilities and linked authorised transporters of the waste through GPS system for better co-ordination and movement-tracking.
The new regulation recommends stringent monitoring to ensure compliance and is applicable to all persons who generate, collect, receive, store, transport, treat, dispose or handle bio-medical waste in any form, reports tribuneindia.com.