Tuesday, Jun 10, 2003
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Tamil Nadu
By K.V. Prasad
According to sources in the IMA, nothing is clear about the fate of the project, except the information that two out of the four proposed operators have been shortlisted by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board. The IMA hoped to begin implementation in the first week of December 2002, after it had forwarded the entire proposal for approval by the TNPCB in Chennai. Initially, the delay was attributed to the proposal awaiting technical scrutiny. Once the private operator is approved by the TNPCB, a memorandum of understanding will be signed to collect waste on a per bed, per day charge. Further, with the help of the operator, a drive to educate doctors and paramedical staff of the hospitals on segregation and storage of biomedical waste will have to be carried out. But, the sanction delay is only adding to the agony of the city and also other areas in the district, where the hazardous waste is being dumped, along with municipal waste, in open spaces. Sources in the IMA are worried that the two-year effort may not fructify. Under TNPCB pressure, efforts had been on since 1999 to find a solution to reckless dumping of biomedical waste on compost yards or in open spaces across the city and in the suburbs. The IMA held talks with private and government hospitals, including the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital, and also with the Corporation, which has maternity centres and health posts, to form an association of hospitals, which could use the common facilitator. The identified site is at Chettipalayam, on the city outskirts, and according to the sources, meets the TNPCB condition that there should be no human habitation over a two-km radius and no water resource over a five-km radius. Now, if the PCB approves an operator, the rest of the process can begin immediately. But the fear is that the momentum gained over the past couple of years in evolving the project, identifying the site and, above all, bringing the hospitals on a common platform may be lost if the sanction delay prolongs. As was the experience with the erstwhile compost yard at Kavundampalayam, residents located around the new one at Vellalore have begun to complain of biomedical waste being dumped along with municipal waste. It is not clear whether the TNPCB is unhappy with some of the components of the project. But the fact that two operators have been shortlisted shows that there may not be any major problem in the choice, the sources say. While the hospitals have been criticised for years for reckless dumping of biomedical waste, an opportunity for them to provide a remedy at least now remains elusive, thanks to the delay in sanctioning the project, say the sources.
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