National Green Tribunal
Kailash Kumar vs State Of Rajasthan on 11 May, 2022
Item No.3
BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL
CENTRAL ZONE BENCH, BHOPAL
(Through Video Conferencing)
Original Application No. 74/2021 (CZ)
Kailash Kumar Changani Applicant(s)
Versus
State of Rajasthan & Ors Respondent(s)
Date of Hearing: 11.05.2022
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SHEO KUMAR SINGH, JUDICIAL MEMBER
HON'BLE DR. ARUN KUMAR VERMA, EXPERT MEMBER
For Applicant(s): Mr. Bhavdeep Singh, Adv
For Respondent(s) : Mr. Yadvendra Yadav, Adv.
Mr. Sandeep Singh Baghel, Adv.
Mr. Deepesh Joshi, Adv.
Mr. Ajay Jain, Adv
Mr. Rohit Sharma, Adv
ORDER
1. The issue of management and disposal of bio- medical waste has been raised with the prayer -
I. To direct the Respondent Authorities to find an alternate solution for disposal of the Bio-medical waste generated in Udaipur, Dongarpur, Chitorgarh, Rajsamand, Pratapgarh and Banswara.
II. To shut down the operation of the Respondent No.4 unit for causing loss to the Environment for years and years. III. To direct the Respondent authorities to take strict action against Respondent No. 4 En-Vision Enviro Engineer Pvt. Ltd. for violation of BMW guidelines, on the ground that that Respondent no.4 is wrongfully operating a CBWTF at RNT MEDICAL COLLEGE, Udaipur wherein more than half 1 of the waste is not being treated and is being dumped at Balicha Dumping Ground, Udaipur, which is owned by Udaipur Municipal Corporation. Moreover, such intolerant act of respondent no.4 is being done since year 2006 and therefore on today's date there is a heap of untreated bio- medical waste lying at that dumping ground which is actually an open place and the said plant was initially installed for treating the Bio-Medical waste generated specifically from RNT Medical College only. Therefore the incinerators that were installed are static, having capacity to treat not more than 50KGs of biomedical waste per hour. IV. The RNT Medical College itself Is having 2000 beds (approx.) and therefore got its own bio-medical waste treatment plant which was operated by Respondent no.4. But Respondent no.4 further applied to respondent no.2 for declaring itself as a CBWTF. It likely seems that respondent no.2 subsequently issued certificate to respondent no.4 to operate as a CBWTF. V. The unit of Respondent no.4 is declared a CBWTF by Respondent No.2 without acknowledging the fact that the incinerators installed in their unit do not have the capacity to treat any further Bio-medical waste.
VI. As on today's date, the facility of respondent no.4 has a capacity to treat only 1000kgs (1ton) of blo medical waste per day as it uses static incinerators. Whereas the said facility is catering a vast area which includes Udaipur, Dungarpur, Chlttorgarh, Rajsamand, Pratapgarh and Banswara which in total generates more than 6000kgs of bio-medical waste every day.
VII. That, the prescribed calculation for analysing the need of a CBWTFs is, that the bio-medical waste emitted from 1000 beds comes out to be 400kg/day. In Udaipur itself, there 2 are 5 medical colleges which emit more than 2000kgs of blo-medical waste per day as enlisted below:
S. No Medical unit Capacity B. Waste
1 Geetanjali medical college & 1150 beds 460 kgs
hospital (gmc), Udaipur
2 RNT medical college, udaipur 2000 beds 800 kgs
with Five Associated Group of
Hospitals
3 Pacific Institute of 900 beds
medical 360 kgs
sciences - [PIMS] UDAIPUR
4 Ananta Institute of Medical 810 beds 324 kgs
Sciences & Research Centre,
Udalpur
5 American 700 beds
International 280 kgs
Institute of Medical Sciences,
Udaipur
Total 5560 beds 1924 Kgs
2. The matter was taken up on 27th September, 2021 and a Committee consisting representative of CPCB, representative of Rajasthan Pollution Control Board and Chief Medical Officer, Udaipur, Rajasthan was constituted with a direction to submit the factual and action taken report. The Committee visited the place and submitted the report as follows:
The main issues raised in the petition by the applicant regarding the RNT medical college, Balicha trenching ground and CBWTF unit verification points as per 27 .9.2021 order areas under :-
1. Illegal operation of CBWTF at RNT college campus and mismanagement of BMW.
2. Dumping of BMW at Balicha trenching ground.
3. IWs En-vision Enviro Ltd. (CBWTF) not complying the BMW guidelines.
4. CBWTF not having the capacity to treat BMW.
To verify the factual status the team has visited three locations i.e. RNT medical campus, Balicha trenching ground and CBWTF and observed the biomedical waste management related activity which includes verification of storage and segregation practice adopted, treatment equipments, record keeping, data transmission, APCD and ETP status etc. During the visit the team also interacted with RNT medical collage staff who are associated with waste management, workers of Balicha site, drivers, contract workers and helpers to find out the awareness level and subject knowledge of work assigned, 3 and also tried to fetch out any other information which is related to this matter.
During visit geographical coordinates, photographs and other relevant information were also collected which are incorporated in the Report. The main observation of the team is given below:
ISSUE I - Illegal operation of CBWTF at RNT college campus and mismanagement of BMW
1. Ravindra Nath Tagore Medical College, Udaipur is a Govt.
medical college.The college was established in 1961, R.N.T. Medical College, Udaipur City. There are five hospitals attached to this Medical College. These are Maharana Bhupal Govt. Hospital; Pannadhay Rajkiya Mahila Chikitsalaya; Seth Ram Vilas Bhuwalka Yakshma Arogya Sadan; Shri Khemraj Katara Satellite Hospital, Hiran Magri sector no 6 & Shri Sunder Singh Bhandari District Hospital, Chandpole.
2. The Maharana Bhupal Govt. Hospital having the 1146 bed strength and consent was expired on 30.11.2013 and further applied for renewal on the basis of that RSPCB, RO Udaipur visited the hospital on 20.11.2020 and issued notice on 28.6.2021 for necessary improvements, hospital yet to submit the action taken report, hence renewal still under consideration with RSPCB.
3. The Pannadhay Rajkiya Mahila Chikitsalaya having the 540 bed strength and consent expired on 31.8.2021.
4. It was observed that there is no CBWTF installed in RNT medical college campus and entire BMW is being sent to IWs En-vision Enviro Ltd. which is located around 20 km away from the RNT medical college. Hence it is false allegation as mentioned in the petition.
5. During inspection randomly 05 wards i.e. Emergency, NICU, Medicine, Surgical, and Orthopedics visited in RNT medical college and interacted with paramedical staff to know the factual status and it was observed that they have knowledge about BMW segregation, but its implementation was poor due to casual attitude and weak supervision.
6. The BMW shall be segregated into containers or bags at the point of generation in designated colour coded bin/container but it was observed at most of the nursing station, waste generation points only one or two bins are available, hence proper segregation of BMW is not being done. It was also observed during the visits that lack of segregation practices results in the mixing of hospital wastes with general wastes.
7. The general housekeeping work including waste collection from ward to ward has been outsourced but outsourced staff is not that much trained about the 4 type of BMW segregation, so unknowingly they are mixing the waste. A formal short duration training (1 or 2 days) was given to doctors and nurses only, that too not very frequently, while a majority of the waste handlers especially the ward boys, sweepers and sanitary workers had not undergone practical training for safe handling of BMW and hence 4 they probably unaware about proper management. However the attitude of infection control department and BMW management supervisors were found very positive and they are working sincerely for continual improvement of waste management in limited infrastructure and budget.
8. The hospital has provided isolated centralized BMW storage facility. It was observed that the BMW and MSW are being stored separately but at common location hence the possibility of interchanging of waste bags not be ruled out. The hospital administration has unknowingly purchased green colour bags for BMW collection but this colour is not recommended for collection of any category of waste so that it creates the confusion and probably this issue may be main cause for mismanagement. However hospital administration assured to sort out this issue very soon.
9. Both the hospitals having membership of CBWTF and sending entire BMW to CBWTF on regular basis and records are being maintained. It was observed that \zls En-vision environ ltd. collecting the BMW from medical college campus on regular basis which was also verified by GPS tracking data for the complaint period 1.8.2021 to 7.8.2021 and previous day (19.10.2021) of inspection.
10. For tracking of waste bar coding is required however hospitals have not adopted bar code system so far as the matter of its implementation is pending at government level.
11. As per the waste collection data of CBWTF it was observed that less quantity of plastic waste reached for treatment hence the possibility of its pilferage from the wards may not be ruled out.
12. As discussed with contractor of housekeeping, in-charge of waste management and other associated members of waste management they accept that during the peak time of second wave of Covid minor mismanagement was happened due to acute shortage of trained staff, unwillingness of waste collection by sanitary staff and unknown fear of corona virus but same has been managed very soon.
13. As informed that the present man power supplier agency is not working properly and internal complaints of poor services were received from last few months, in this regard hospital administration issued letter and verbal instruction also given for further improvements. As no improvement observed so finally hospital decided no further renewal will be granted to this firm.
14. The MCU was maintained properly w.r.to BMW management and same type of practices may be adopted in other wards also.
ISSUE 2 - Dumping of BMW at Balicha dumping ground.
1. The team also visited Balicha dumping ground to verify illegal dumping of BMW and it was observed that it is open dumping ground and there is no fencing around it. 5
2. Complaints related to dumping of BMW at this site was also published recently in local news paper in this regard Regional Officer RSPCB take self cognizance and his team visited the place on 13.8.2021 then issued a notice to municipal corporation Udaipur on 9.9.2021for taking necessary steps to prevent it. In compliance of that municipal corporation taking the corrective action and informed RSPCB on28.9.2021.
3. The municipal corporation started the fencing work all around the dumping site to prevent any unauthorized dumping. Security guards were also deputed for round the clock monitoring. The security guard maintaining all vehicle details and keeping vigil about which type of waste is being dumped by the vehicles but this arrangement was not available earlier.
4. It was observed that none of the government hospital and most of the non-bedded HCFs still not adopting the bar code system for waste tracking, so in this type of situation it very difficult to trace out the source of BMW dumped at dumping ground. The medical waste generated from households is being dumped at Balicha dumping ground by Municipal Corporation as there is no agreement with IWs En-vision enviro ltd. for its disposal. Hence the possibility of BMW dumping by non-member HCFs may not be ruled out.
ISSUE 3 - CBWTF not complying the BMW guidelines:
1. Team also visited IWs En-vision Enviro ltd. (work as CBWTF) to veriff the provisions of BMWM Rules 2016.
2. The CBWTF has valid authorization ,rpto3l.3.2023.
3. At the time of visit CBWTF was operational at full capacity. As per consent, the unit is having50 kg/tu capacity incinerator, 50 kg/cycle autoclave and shredders of 50 kgltlr. On average basis 1200 kg waste treated per day in which 700 to 800 kg waste is incinerable category and remaining is recyclable and sharp waste.
4. The recyclable waste is autoclaved followed by shredder.
The unit has also provided concrete make sharp pit for disposable of metal sharp and needles.
5. It was observed that the PLC system is attached with the incinerator and incinerator is partially operated on it.
6. In compliance of CPCB guidelines for management of covid waste revision-4, the unit has provided separate waste collection mechanism with dedicated vehicle but same could not be physically verified because all the vehicles were in the field for waste collection.
7. The unit has provided separate area for treated and untreated waste storage (15 ft X 20 ft) and seems it is sufficient to fulfill the present requirement of waste storage. It was observed that proper segregated and bar coded waste is not being received at the facility hence operator re-segregated the waste at the facility for sorting the recyclable material.
8. It was also observed that significant quantity of recyclable waste collected and received in yellow category bag which is further autoclaved. The traceability of this type of bags 6 could not be done as there is no bar coding system and nothing mentioned on the bag regarding its identification.
9. As informed by the in charge of the facility the waste is collected from the member HCFs by the dedicated vehicles and every day the collection starts in the morning and completed in the evening. The collected waste is treated incinerated same day.
10. During visit semi automatic feeding was practiced. As informed by the unit representative the up-gradation work of present incinerator has been completed and now it is complying the 2 second residence time.
11. The incinerator is found equipped with Air Pollution Control Device (APCD) which comprises ventury scrubber, demister attached with 30 meter stack. The water is used as the medium in ventury scrubber to suppress the dust emission from laden flue gas. The dust emission trapped in the water is collected as sludge in the settling tank.
12. The temperature of primary chamber and secondary chamber was observed 829oC and 1052oC respectively, but same as not transmitted or updated on CPCB website.
13. For the treatment of waste water generated from floor washing, vehicle washing and scrubber, the unit has provided 5 KL capacity ETP which comprised of Oil and Grease trap, Chemical dosing tank, coagulation Chamber, Primary Settling Tank, secondary settling Tank, PSF & ACF, Disinfection Tank. As informed by operator treated water is stored in over head tank and further used in horticulture and gardening purpose.
14. The unit has provided DG sets for emergency operation of plant and machinery in case of power supply failure. ISSUE 4 - CBWTF not having the capacity to treat BMW:
1. The unit has installed 50 Kg/Hr capacity incinerator. It is observed from the record that compare to the yellow category incinerable waste received at the site and the capacity of incinerator is near about to its maximum treatment capacity. On average basis 800 to 900 Kg yellow category of waste received at CBWTF and this much quantify will take 16-18 Hr for incineration.
2. The functionality of the autoclave was also verified as autoclave was in operation during visit. Spore test of each batch and records were maintained as per rules.
3. Shredder was found operational and kept near autoclave fixed on RCC foundation. The capacity of shredder is 50 kg/Hr and presently this capacity is sufficient to shred the receiving waste.
4. The unit has claimed that as the operation of new facility in Dungurpur area approx 1500 beds reduced from the present capacity. As mentioned in petition Ananta institute of medical college and American international institute of medical science having 810 and 700 beds respectively but as per annual report submitted by the institutes they are having 650 and 100 beds only, so the gap of near about 800 beds is exist.
5. As per the direction of district administration of Rajasthan the unit collecting the waste from Sirohi and Pali rural 7 area, however it is not in the coverage area of this unit but due to unavailability of the facility in that area the unit is providing his services in this area.
6. In the view of above it seems that presently the unit is able to treat the collected waste but further addition of large number of beds may create the problem as the incinerator is running at its optimum capacity.
OCEMS, Bar coding facility:
1. As per the guideline of CPCB, the unit has installed M/s Prima, make CEMS in incinerator stack to monitor primary & secondary chamber temperature, CO and CO2. The CEMS data available at CPCB and RSPCB website which was verified during visit.
2. During inspection, it is informed by the CBWTF that data is being transferred to the RSPCB/CPCB server through internet but due to poor internet connectivity in this area data transfer is sometimes hampered.
3. The unit has started the bar coding facility but its implementation at ground level was found poor. As per the record most of the HCFs are still not adopting the bar coding system due to lack of awareness in the matter. However implementation of the bar code system is the joint responsibility of the Occupier as well as Operator of a CBWTF.
Record keeping:
The overall record keeping was found average and it need to improvement through digital type of proof rather than manual. Manual 1og book for incinerator, autoclave, shredder and ETP operation were maintained however as per norms PLC prints out or electronic tamper proof record is to be maintained. Emission and Ambient air Quality monitoring During the visit the team conducted the stack emission monitoring to assess the performance of APCD and emission value are given in the table below:
S No Location PM NOx Remarks
01 Incinerator 44 11 Emission
stack values
Standard limit 50 400 complying the
norms
All the emission results were found within the limit, as given in BMWM Rules, 2016 As per the emission data received by CEMS the values of CO and CO2 were observed 0.131% and 0.90Yo respectively on the basis of it the combustion efficiency is 79.57%o against standard of at least 99.0% it may be because of mix type of waste burned during monitoring.
To assess the air quality in the vicinity of the unit ambient air monitoring performed at two locations i.e. inside the plant premises in down and up wind direction. The result of ambient monitoring as given below:8
S No Location PM 10 SO2 NO2 Remarks
1 Near 81 7.6 12.1 monitoring
main affected due
gate of to heavy
the unit vehicle
Standard 100 80 80 movement in
front of
CBWTF
The ambient monitoring shows that all the values are well within the limit.
Others
1. The only positive thing is that the present Superintendent and his infection control team shown the responsive and cooperative attitude to adopt functional BMWM system through time targeted action plan.
2. As informed by facility operator in-spite of organizing so many awareness program and personnel interaction with cleaning staff and CHC & PHC, problem of waste segregation at source is not solved even some of the hospital not willing to give waste and also not obtaining the membership of CBWTF.
3. The unit has obtained authorization under HW Rules for generation of incineration ash. As informed by the unit representative recently they have disposed 3.98 MT of ash through TSDF, Gudli on 4.10.2021. It was observed still 1 to 2 MT of ash still stored inside the room for disposal. The unit has displayed the hazardous information board at main gate of the unit but it was not updated properly.
4. The plastic and other recyclable material collected from various hospitals is being stored inside the room for further treatment. The collected plastic disinfected and shredded and sold to authorize plastic waste recycler. Recently the unit has sold out 14 T of plastic and record of the same has been maintained.
5. As per the CPCB guideline the unit has downloaded the 'COVIDI9BWM' app and submitting the Covid waste collection data on it.
6. The facility has done all the necessary vaccination to staff engaged in waste collection and treatment i.e. Tetanus and Hepatitis-B.
7. As the unit is collecting and storing the medical waste so it is obvious some foul smell is generated inside the untreated waste storage room but outside the premises there was no foul feel observed by committee members during the visit. However unit is spraying disinfectant solution on regular basis to control the odor related problem if any.
Recommendation 9 On the basis of the Joint Inspection and monitoring by Committee the following recommendations are given by the Committee:
Action by RNT medical college:
1. The BMW and MSW must be stored at different location to avoid any mixing or interchanging of bags.
2. Hospital administration may coordinate with RSPCB regarding organizing awareness and training program at department level w.r.t. segregation, collection, storage, and proper documentation.
3. The BMW must be collect in designated color bag as given in schedule-I of BMWM Rules,20l6.
4. The consent and authorization must be obtained from RSPCB at the earliest.
5. Bar code system must be adopted for waste tracking.
6. Documentation of waste management must be maintained properly.
7. Strict instruction may be given to waste contractor and supervisor regarding proper on site segregation and collection.
8. Special training may be given to sanitary workers and outsourced staff for better management of BMW.
Action by Udaipur Municipal Corporation:
1. Fencing work at the periphery of the dumping site must be completed at the earliest.
2. For disposal of house hold BMW a agreement must be signed with CBWTF.
3. Computerized record of waste and vehicles may be maintained at dumping site.
4. If any illegal BMW received at site then the information should be given to RO,RSPCB and N{/s En-vision Enviro Ltd. immediately,
5. Sign board of waste characterization may be placed at prominent location of site for awareness.
6. If BMW found in any collection bin inside the city the action must be taken as per rule.
7. Possibility of CCTV installation may be explored for better monitoring round the clock basis at the dump site.
Action by M/s En-vision Enviro Ltd:
1. New membership should be stopped when bed strength will be reached upto 10000 beds or total waste quantity reaches above the treatment capacity whichever is earlier.
2. To provide all necessary help to state government regarding awareness & training and establishment of bar code system.
3. To improved the combustion efficiency of the plant put more emphasis on the spot segregation or whatever rectification required in this regard.
4. Possibility of higher capacity of incinerator and autoclave installation may be explored with all 10 necessary permission from RSPCB or other concern agency.
5. To maintain all the logbooks properly and temper proof related to incineration system, waste movement and collection system and treated waste disposal.
6. To organize more awareness programs and interaction meet with member hospitals so that waste could be segregated properly at source.
7. To maintain all the safety measure and good housekeeping at all the time.
8. The unit shall comply all the condition as given in authorization.
Action Taken:
1. On the basis of committee recommendation RSpCB may issue notice to RNT, UMC and CBWTF for the compliance of the above points and directing them to submit the time bond action plan for its timely execution. The Regional office of RSPCB, Udaipur communicated the matter to Head Office Jaipur for issuing the same.
2. Due to the overburden on the medical facilities and large quantities of BMW waste being generated as a result of the outbreak of second wave of COMD-I9 pandemic, and the importance of medical college and CBWTF, the said facility was allowed to operate for the time being, and no stringent action has been taken at that time.
3. The matter was again taken up on 01st December, 2021 and the Tribunal after submission of the report observed as follows:
"Rajasthan Pollution Control Board is directed to take necessary steps for compliance and taking necessary legal action in light of the recommendation of the Committee. It is further directed that in case of violation of environmental norms, State Pollution Control Board, Rajasthan has to take necessary steps for calculation and realisation of environmental compensation. Action taken report may be filed within 30 days."
4. After submission of the reply the matter was heard on 03rd February, 2022 and the Tribunal directed as follows:
"
1. Learned Counsel for the applicant has raised the question that there is a huge gap between the generation and capacity to treat and since the facility which is available in the city has no capacity to treat the waste which is generated throughout the area, waste generated is being dumped here & there or in the precinct of the facility centre. Some objections have been raised on the joint committee report for which learned counsel representing the CPCB has submitted that the copy of the objections has not been provided to him, to file the reply. Copy of the objection as filed by the applicant, be provided to the learned 11 counsel for the Centre Pollution Control Board, State Pollution Control Board and all other respondents to file the reply, if any.
2. Learned counsel for the applicant has further submitted that authorities, waste generator and State Pollution Control Board are not taking proper and necessary steps to ensure that bio- medical waste is handled properly without any adverse effect to human health and the environment in accordance with the Bio- Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016, and there is no proper treatment in accordance with Schedule-1 of the Rules and the waste is not properly segregated and there is no maintenance of records relating to generation, collection, reception, storage, transportation, treatment, disposal or any other form of handling of bio-medical waste. Accordingly, we direct the State Pollution Control Board to submit a report with regard to -
1) Total generation of bio-medical waste within the area (within the jurisdiction of the facility available)
2) Total collection of bio-medical waste.
3) Manner of storage, reception and transportation.
4) Capacity to treat (per day) in ratio of generation per day.
5) Report with regard to the dumping of medical waste at any point within the area under question and the responsibility of the person throwing the medical waste without observing prescribed method of transportation or manner of disposal according to Rules.
6) The State Pollution Control Board is further directed to fix the responsibility of the person/agency generating the medical waste and throwing it in the open place without any treatment facility and to take necessary legal action in addition to calculation and realisation of environmental compensation in accordance with the Rules and Guidelines issued by the CPCB.
7) Action taken report by the CPCB for monitoring and implementing the Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016 and in the cases of non-compliance the action taken report by the Central Pollution Control Board.
8) Generation capacity of RNT Medical Collage, Udaipur (with all Five attached hospitals) generation of waste, manner of transportation and manner of disposal of waste generated by the RNT Medical Collage, Udaipur.
9) Total number of member Health Care Facilities (HCFs) and total number of beds available in all these Health Care Facilities separately.
10) Operational system of incinerator and auto-clave system and its operational capacity.12
11) Occupational safety of health care workers and others involved in handling of bio-medical waste.
12) Health check-up of all those who are involved in handling of bio- medical waste.
13) Maintenance and updating of day to day bio-medical waste management register and displaying the monthly record on the website according to the bio-medical waste generated in terms of category is specified in Schedule-1.
14) Detailed report of the action taken by the Centre Pollution Control Board and State Pollution Control Board should be filed within ten days."
5. We have heard the learned counsel for the parties and perused the record with the reply and compliance report of the State Pollution Control Board.
6. In the 21st century with increased use of disposable material and the presence of dreaded disease like Hepatitis B and AIDS, it is utmost important to take care of the infected and hazardous waste to save the mankind from disaster. The Health care institution or hospitals which are responsible for care of morbid population are emitting voluminous quantity of rubbish, garbage and bio medical waste matter each day from wards, operation theatre and outpatient areas. Proper management of hospital waste is essential to maintain hygiene, aesthetics, cleanliness and control of environmental pollution. The hospital waste like body parts, organs, tissues, blood and body fluids along with soiled linen, cotton, bandage and plaster casts from infected and contaminated areas are very essential to be properly collected, segregated, stored, transported, treated and disposed of in safe manner to prevent hospital acquired infection. Various communicable diseases, which spread through water, sweat, blood, body fluids and contaminated organs, are important to be prevented. The bio medical waste scattered in and around the hospitals invites flies, insects, rodents, cats and dogs that are responsible for the spread of communication disease like plague and rabies. Rag pickers in the hospital, sorting out the garbage are at a risk of getting tetanus and HIV infections. The recycling of disposable 13 syringes, needles, IV sets and other article like glass bottles without proper sterilization are responsible for Hepatitis, HIV, and other viral diseases. It becomes primary responsibility of Health administrators to manage hospital waste in most safe and eco-friendly manner.
7. Learned counsel appearing for the CPCB has argued that SPCB is required to prepare an inventory or review with regard to the Bio Medical Waste Generation at-least once in five years in the coverage area of the existing Bio-Medical Waste Treatment and Disposal Facility. The prescribed authority is also required to extrapolate the coverage area wise Bio-Medical Waste generation for the next ten years. SPCB/PCC is required to conduct gap analysis with respect to coverage area of the Bio
- Medical Waste generation and also projected over a period of next ten years, adequacy of existing treatment capacity of the C. B. W. T. F. in each coverage area of radius 75 KM. In a coverage area where there is a pre - existing C. B. W. T. F., a new C. B. W. T. F may be allowed in such a locality in compliance of various provisions notified under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, to cater services only to such additional bed strength of the Health Care Facilities located, in case, number of beds is exceeding >10,000 beds in a locality (i.e. coverage area of the C. B. W.T.F under reference) and the existing treatment capacity is not adequate. In context of above guidelines, the adequacy of treatment capacity of existing CBWTFs refers to availability of adequate infrastructure to treat the quantity of waste received and also the adequacy to comply with environmental standards notified under Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2016
8. The RSPCB, Respondent No.2 has submitted that the State board is carrying out regular inspection of CBWTF facility, at present it is having incinerator of capacity 50 kg/hr and as per annual report of R-4, 9962 beds are connected. It is further submitted that one complaint was received from news channels regarding disposal of bio medical waste in MSWMS, Balicha, Udaipur, the state board carried out inspection of the disputed site on 13.08.2021. On the basis of observation made during 14 inspection, the state board issued letter dated 09.09.2021 to Nagar Nigam, Udaipur. The Nagar Nigam, Udaipur vide letter dated 28.09.2021 informed the state board that they have started construction of boundary wall at Balicha Dumping Yard, appointed one guard at main gate who will maintain record of vehicles, driver name, mobile number, etc and as per the consent to operate letter dated 15.08.2018 the R-4 will treat bio medical waste and, the facility is having incinerator with a capacity of 50 kg/hr.
9. The Respondent No. 4 has submitted the reply with the following facts:
"2. that the Joint Inspection was carried out in view of order dated 27.09.2021passed by the Hon'ble Tribunal which while answering Issue -- I, had categorically submitted in its pare 4 as under 'It was observed that there is no CBIPTF (Common Bio Medical Waste Treatment Facility) installed in RNT Medical College campus and entire BMW is being sent so M's En-vision Enviro Ltd which is located around 20 kms away from the RNT medical college. Hence, it is false allegation as mentioned in the petition. It is further submitted that the Applicant has leveled false and baseless allegation upon the answering respondent with regard to dumping of Bio Medical Waste at Balicha Dumping ground, however no documents in support of the same has been filed, infact the photographs annexed and marked as Annexure -- P/1 also nowhere reveals the involvement of the answering respondent. Further, the said issue has duly been answered by the Joint Committee Inspection Report while answering Issue no. 2. It was categorically mentioned in clause 4 of Issue 2 as: It was observed that none of the government hospital and most of the non bedded HCFs still not adopting the bar code system for waste tracking, so in this type of situation it is very difficult to trace out the source of BMW dumped at dumping ground. The medical waste generated from households is being dumped at Balicha dumping ground by Municipal Corporation as there is no agreement with M's En-vision enviro ltd. for its disposal. Hence the possibility of BMW dumping by non member HCFs may not be ruled out'. The aforesaid report categorically reveals that the allegations with regard to dumping of Bio Medical Waste at Balicha Dumping ground is baseless and unfounded.
3. That the answering respondent had established a Unit after obtaining necessary permissions and consents from the 15 respondent no. 2. It is submitted that vide order dated 24.03.2005, the Consent to establish under Section 21 of Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 & under Section 25/26 of Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 for installation of CBWTP at Village Umarda, Dist. Udaipur was issued by the respondent no. 2 in favour of the answering respondent. The aforesaid consent to operate duly got extended and as on this date the answering respondent has valid consent to operate and to operate a facility for collection, disposal, incineration, reception, transport & treatment of Biomedical wastes) uptill 31.03.2023. It is further submitted that the said Consent categorically provides the activities alongwith quantity to be treated by the answering respondent.
7. That as per the Annual report submitted by the Hospitals the actual beds and Bio Medical wastes collected are as follows:
S. No. Medical Unit Capacity of Bio Medical beds Waste per day (approx.)
1. Geetanjali Medical College 1150 115 kgs & Hospital, Udaipur
2. RNT Medical College, 1542 166 kgs Udaipur "
3. Pacific Institute of Medical 900 97 kgs Sciences, Udaipur
4. Atlanta Institute of Medical 650 20 kgs Sciences & Research Centre, Udaipur
5. American International 100 54 kgs Institute of Medical Sciences, Udaipur It is submitted that for obtaining Certificate to run a Medical College & Hospital, the concerned person is required to show number of beds, but the fact that remains that the same are not operational or filled upto the capacity. It may further be seen that the data collected by the Applicant is not supported by any documentary evidence and hence the same is denied being false.
Further, with regard to the collection of Bio Medical Waste an Annual Report revealing the actual Bio Medical Waste collected by the answering respondent in compliance of Bio Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016 was submitted every year by the answering respondent which makes it evident that the actual Medical Waste collected is in accordance with the sanctioned permission & consent.
16
12. that as per the CPCB guidelines, no CBWTF is allowed within a radius of 150 kms and more so, the answering respondent is running the said unit in compliance with rules and laws. Hence, the allegations leveled against the answering respondent are baseless and unfounded and deserves to be dismissed
10. After the submission of the report by the Joint Committee the Applicant filed an objection to the inspection report. The CPCB has filed the response of said objections which is quoted below:
S.No. OBJECTION REPLY
A. ISSUE 1
1. That the Joint Committee Inspection Report (herein As the Applicant has only mentioned about
after referred to as the said Report) has not even RNT Medical College and the improper Bio
specified the total Waste Generation from RNT Medical medical Waste Management thereat, hence
College. The report states that there are 5 hospitals the Committee has visited both the HCFs
attached to RNT Medical College but the said report located inside the Premises. Whereas other
specifies the bed strength of only nvo hospitals i.e.: three Facilities are located ^t far distance
from the College Campus and were not
visited. However as updated by the RSPCB the bed strength of the remaining 03 a. Maharana Bhupal Govt. Hospital - 1146 Bed Hospitals is as below:
Strength b. Pannadhay RaikiYa Mahila Chikitsalaya - 540 Bed S.N. Hospital No. of Beds Strength 1. 260 Seth Ram Vilas 260 The bed strength of remaining 3 hospital i.e. Bhuwalka Yakshma Arogya Sadan c. . Seth Ram Vilas Bhuwalka Yakshma Arogya Sadan 2 Shri Khemraj Katara 100 d.. Shri Khemraj Katara Satellite Hospital Satellite Hospital e. Shri Sunder Singh Bhandari District Hospital 3 Shri Sunder Singh 50 Bhandari District Hospital Is not disclosed in the Report by which it could have already been established that the facility of Respondent No.4 is collecting waste beyond its It can therefore be concluded that the Bed capacity. Strength of the CBWTF is within Consented Capacity.
1.2 That the Joint inspection Committee clearly found that As the matter is related to Consent the Maharana Bhupal Govt. Hospital is operating without appropriate authority to respond is RSPCB.
consent since 2013 and still the only action taken However, the Committee has recommended against the hospital is, that, RO Udaipur has issued that : "The consent and authorisation must Show Cause Notice to the Hospital on 28.06.2021, for b e obtained from RSPCB at the earliest. which the hospital was supposed to submit its reply by 31.07.2021. No such reply has been annexed in the report and no further action has been taken against the hospital ltil date.
1.3 That the Joint Committee has opted for a very liberal The procedural delay in obtaining the approach and therefore no recommendation for authorization may appropriately be charging penalty on this hospital has been suggested. responded by the prescribed Authority i.e. In fact, this fact is also ignored that a CBWTF cannot the RSPCB and the Occupier. lift BMW from a unit which is not having consent. Still the CBWTF unit of Respondent no.4 is lifting BMW As on 28.06.2021 the RSPCB has not from this hospital since 2013 which is against the confirmed the refusal of Authorisation sought BMW Rules and Guidelines. No penalty has been by the Maharana Bhupal Govt. Hospital and recommended to be charged on the facility of the matter is under consideration of RSPCB. Respondent No.4. Hence the collection of waste from the Hospital is justified as the same falls under 17 Essential Services in health infrastructure. Also the Committee has recommended that "The consent and authorisation must be obtained from RSPCB at the earliest".
1.4 While investigating issue no.1, in para 7 and 13 the The committee has fairly pointed ut the said report says that the housekeeping work including probable reasons for unsatisfactory waste collection has been outsourced to a Firm, housekeeping and lapse in the management whereas the Report fails to mention the name or of Biomedical Waste at page no. 3 and 4 of details of any such firm. It is submitted that the the Joint Committee Report Hospital Authorities are trying to abscond from their liabilities by stating that the wrong method in collecting waste is not being done by them but by some other firm and the Joint Committee has least bothered to enquire further the name of any such firm which has been hired by hospital or any such annexure which corroborates the fact that some other firm has been hired to do the waste collection job.
1.5 That while investigating issue no. 1 at para 10, the As per BMWM, Rules 2016 Bar Coding of said Report states that the hospital are not adopting Waste Bags is mandatory for tracking and bar code system, whereas as per "Guideines for Bar tracing of waste. If any Hospital does not Code System for efficient management of Bio Medical adot the Bar Code System the concerned Waste, 2018", if bar code is not there the waste shall SPCB may take action as per provisions of not be lifted. But, still the waste is being lifted. But, the Rules. Waste collecstion in given time line still the waste is being lifted from these hospitals by is the responsibility of CBWTF and this respondent no. 4 since years and still not penalty has service comes under Essential Services been imposed on respondent no. 4 for not following under health infrastructure. Since the mandatory guidelines. Respondent NO. 4 has collected the waste in the prescribed time, they can not be penalized for non implementation of Rules regarding Bar Coding as it is not their Statutory Responsibility. The responsibility of implementation of Bar Code System lies with the respective SPCB and Occupier.
It is pertinent to mention that as per the BMWM Rules, 2016 there is no legal bar or prohibition on the CBWTF to lift and treat the waste from HCFs which not yer implemented the Bar Code System. On the contrary , looking to the hazardous nature of Biomedical Waste and the stipulated timeline for collecting the treating the sais waste, the CBWTF cannot be stoped from lifting and treating such waste as per the Rules.
B- ISSUE 2 2.1 That while investigating issue no. 2, at para 2 it is As there is no issued raised under this point, stated in the Report that, RO RSPCB has issued notice hence no reply is required. to municipal Corporation Udaipur for taking necessary steps to prevent the dumping of BMW at Balicha Dumping Ground. Subsequently, Municipal Corporation has informed RSPCB on 28.09.2021 about the necessary steps which has been taken i.e. Annexure no. 3 2.2 That as per Annexure 03, BMW has been dumped at As there is no issued raised under this point, Balicha Dumping Ground by some unknown hence no reply is required. person/vehicles. In order to prevent such activity, boundary / fencing work has been initiated and a guard has been appointed to keep record of the vehicles dumping waste at Balicha Dumping Ground 2.3 That, Annexure 03 is dated 28.09.2021 and the visit On the day of field visit i.e. 20.10.2021 the by Joint Inspection Committee is done on 20.10.2021, work of boundary wall construction work still no such fence has been shown in the pictures was on going. supplied in the Report.
As per the recent visit of RSPCB on 07.01.2022 the one side wall attached to entry gate has been constructed and fencing work not yet started. Copy of the relevant Report is annexed herewith and marked as Annexure R-3/I/ 18 2.4 That, the petitioner has supplied with the image of the The registration number of the vehicle used vehicle which was caught red handed dumping the for waste dumping was not visible in the AND bio-medical waste at Balicha Dumping Ground. In the image provided by the petitioner. Thus the 2.5 image, the vehicle is of Maharana Bhupal committee was unable to investigate for the Chikatsalaya which is again part of RNT medical same. college but no investigation has been fone on the matter. Moreover, the said incident happened 5 to 6 months prior to the Committee visit. However, That, if there have been unknown people who have the Committee interacted with Labour dumped bio-medical waste at Balicha Dumping Contractor and other Vehicle Drivers to trace Ground then it was very important to further out the identity of vehicle and driver but investigate the register maintained by the guard of driver who was seen in the photo was not Balicha Dumping Ground in order to trace the vehicle recognized. The entry system of vehicle numbers. But no such record of register has been details coming to Balicha site was started investigated nor has been supplied as annexure along after this incidence and as mentioned in with the said report. Report also, this kind of arrangement was not available earlier.
C- Issue 3 3.1 That, the Report states at para 3, that,700 to 800 kg The Committee has reported the average waste is incinerable, whereas the Committee neither quantity, of incenerable waste based on the stayed there for entire day neither did weigh the waste furnished to book Records of year 2027 by in their presence. The committee has stated the fact the CBWTF Operator. merely on the verdict of Respondent no. 4. Such investigation makes the entire purpose of making a This Data is the baseline Data which can be joint committee infructuous. correlated with the Average Generation of Biomedical Waste in the State and thus may not be disputable.
3.2 That the Report at Para 4 states that recyclable waste The details of Registered Recyclers are given is first autoclaved and then shredded and after that it under Annexure - 8 of the Joint Committee should go to registered recycler. But the report is silent Report. The recycler is M/s E co Vision regarding the fact that recyclable waste after shredder Environmental Resources LLP is going to which registered recycler.
3.3 That from the said Report following irregularities can The Report is very clear about the waste be easily pointed out which has been framed and segregation and it has mentioned that most stated in the report in very indirect manner, i.e.: Waste of the CHCs/PHCs were not segregating the is being re-segregated at the Unit which is not waste in proper manner. Even in Maharaja permissible. Yellow Bags are being autoclaved, Bhopal Hospital segregation of waste v/as whereas yellow bags should only go into incinerators. not found to be as per the Rules. The incinerators are being fed in semi-automatic manner operational issue related to electronic circuit whereas they should be 100% automated. Incinerators of PLC attached with incinerator was shall be entirely operating on PLC system and not in observed by the Committee and same was partial manner as practiced by unit of Respondent no. reported. It was observed that Static Type
4. Partial operation itself shows that the machine is Double Chamber Incinerator has been running in a manipulative manner installed by the facility and the temperature of Primary Chamber and Secondary Chamber was observed 829C and 1052"C respectively. On the basis of the temperature shown on Control Panel it can be gathered that the incinerator was done as per the norms and proper temperature of Incineration is a key parameter for assessment of the performance of the Incinerator.
3.4 That Para 6 of the Report states that the vehicles The Committee verified the GPS details of the dedicated for Covid waste collection cannot be Vehicle and travel detail summary has been physically verified whereas it could be very easily provided in the Committee's Report at verified by the mother computer installed in the Unit. Annexure - 2. The Committee has not verified any such computer data.
3.5 That Para 9 of the report just narrates the words of The Agreement with HCF of Banswata Respondent no. 4. This was not the purpose of the said expired on March 2020. As per BM\XM Joint Committee. Regarding the irregularities in Guidelines, 2016 'Waste must be disposed of collecting and disposing of waste, this fact is pertinent within 48 hours for further disposal, so the to bring into notice of this Hon'ble tribunal that CBWTF was not violating the guidelines as it respondent no. 4 has signed agreement with HCF of was collecting waste within 48 hours. Banswara that it will be collecting waste in alternate Presently a new facility is established at days which itself is against the guidelines. Dungalpur and most of the HCFs are obtaining the membership from said Facility. D- Issue 4 4.1 That the Joint Committee has tried their level best to The total beds covered by the Respondent conceal the original facts and save Respondent no. 4. it No. 4 as per the Annual Report 2020 is 9962 can be seen outright that by evaluating just 2 members which is still less than 10,000 nos. of beds i.e. Maharana Bhupal Govt. Hospital and Pannadhay as per the revised guideline for CB!/TF, Rajkiya Mahila Chikitsalaya, a total of 1680 beds 2016. As per the Annual report, 2020 the 19 have reached. The unit of Respondent no. 4 is further average annual incinerable waste collection collecting BMW from 372 members in Udaipur District is 1070kgs/day against the installed itself which generates a bare minimum of 2800 kgs of capacity i.e. 1200kg/ day BMW. The unit further collecting waste from Dugarpur, Chittorgarh, Rajsamand, Pratapgarh, Banswara, Sirohi and Pali also.
Further it is submitted that a new CBWTF has been started in Dungalpur that catering the nearby district i.e., Banswara, Pratapgarh, Dungarpur. The reason of waste collection from rural are of Pali and Sirohi was reported at page no. 7 point no. 5 of the Committee's Report.
4.2 That the entire issue raised in the petition is that the The total beds covered by the Respondent and Unit of Respondent no.4 is collecting waste from a No. 4 as per the Annual Report 2020 is 9962 4.3 waste area and has given membership to units beyond which is still less than 10,000 nos. of beds its capacity and because it does not have capacity to as per the revised guideline for CBWTF,2016. treat that much BMW, it is dumping the waste at The Committee has reported the average Balicha Dumping Ground. But the committee has not quantity, of incinerable waste i.e. 700 - investigated this point at all. That the report only 800kgs/day which is based on the furnished states how much waste is being brought to the unit of logbook records of Sept & October Months of Respondent no. 4 and has not disclosed how much 2021, by the CB\X/TF Operator. BMW is being generated from the area which this facility is serving.
4.4 That, respondent no. 4 has himself given a letter to The Respondent No. 4 has submitted the Municipal Corporation Udaipur, 22.02.2021 to increase Application for its future expansion when bed its capacity as the area which it is catering is strength will cross the 10000 numbers. The generating 6000 kgs of BMW per day future estimation may be based on proposed expansion of existing HCFs or new members which will want to join the Facility. However this expansion process is not related with present status of Waste Management. The Committee has already recommended that "Possibility of higher capacity of incinerator and autoclave installation may be explored with all necessary permission from RSPCB or other concern agency and New membership should be stopped when bed strength will be reached upto 1000 beds or total waste quantity reaches above the treatment capacity whichever is earlier
11. In response to the Joint Committee report the State Pollution Control Board has submitted the affidavit with compliance of the order and directions and submitted that the board has issued SCN to the violators with respect to the observations made by the Joint Inspection Committee and further directed the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Udaipur to provide the Action Taken Report with respect to the observation made by the Joint Inspection Committee.
12. In compliance of the order dated 03.02.2022 with regard to the point wise reply, the SPCB has submitted the compliance report as follows:
Direction 1) Total generation of bio-medical waste within the area (within the jurisdiction of the facility available) Compliance- The total average generated quantity of BMW in the Jurisdiction of M/s En-vision Enviro Pvt Ltd is below:20
For the year 2020:- average BMW waste 1275 kg/day (incinerable 1070 kg/day, autoclaveble & shredder 203.35 kg/day and sharps 1.72 kg/day) as per the annual report submitted by CBWIDF to RSPCB For the year 2021- 1400-1500 Kg/day from 9778 beds as per document submitted by CBWTDF Presently, the facility providing the services in Udaipur, Chittorgarh, Banswara, Durgarpur, Rajsamand, Pratapgarh, Pali (Sumerpur block) and Sirohi (9 CRCs). The copy of Bio Medical Waste Record submitted by M/s En-vision for the period July, 2021 to January, 2022 is annexed herewith and marked as Annexure-1 (Collectively).
It is submitted that as per the Rule 13 (i) of BMWM, Rules 2016 Every occupier or operator of common biomedical waste treatment facility shall submit an annual report to the prescribed authority in Form-IV on or before the 30th June of every year. On the basis of the annual report submitted by the CBWTF the prescribed authority compiled the report of state and submit to CPCB. In the present case the annual report submitted by the CBWTF to RSPCB in prescribed format is being considered as proof of facts. The number of bed associated and waste collection is dynamic process as various factor i.e, new facility come in the area or HCFs discontinued the membership or new HCFs take the membership may affect the status. It is also the responsibility of the CBWTF to submit the factual data to prescribed authority as per rules.
A new facility has been started in the District Durgarpur. Hence the possibility of reducing the quantity of the waste at M/s En-vision Enviro Pvt Ltd, as earlier this facility also catering the service in this area. Direction 2) Total collection of bio-medical waste. Compliance- As far as the member HCFs the CBWTDF collected all the BMW within the stipulated time as per rule, which was verified by GPS records and telephonic discussion with random hospitals. It is submitted that as per the Annual report of CBWTDF for the year 2020, total 1275 kg of BMW collected on daily basis which includes all categories. Further, the document submitted by CBWTDF for the year 2021 total 1400-1500 Kg of BMW collected on daily basis which includes all categories. The copy of CBWTDF Annual Report 2020 is annexed herewith and marked as Annexure-
2. Direction 3) Manner of storage, reception and transportation. Compliance- For storage of BMW the CBWTDF has provided the colour category wise room inside the CBWTDF premises in which all BMW has been stored which was collected from various HCFs.
For collection of BMW the CBWTDF has provided 09 dedicated vehicles and specially 01 dedicated vehicle for Covid waste collection. All the collection vehicles are GPS enabled and its tracking was verified by the committee during 21 the visit on 20.10.2021. The copy of Daily Travel summary as submitted by the CBWTDF site is annexed herewith and marked as Annexure-3.
4) Capacity to treat (per day) in ratio of generation per day. Compliance- For treatment of collected BMW, the facility has provided 50 Kg/Hr incinerator, 50 kg/Hr Shredder and 450 Ltr/Cycle Autoclave. On the basis of collection quantity for the year 2020 i.e. 1275 Kg/day. Existing treatment facility available for different tyre of waste at CBWTDF site is 2400 kg/day, therefore it may be concluded that the present capacity is adequate.
5) Report with regard to the dumping of medical waste at any point within the area under question and the responsibility of the person throwing the medical waste without observing prescribed method of transportation or manner of disposal according to Rules. Compliance- As per the GPS data of the waste collecting vehicles of the CBWTDF Udaipur, it seems the CBWTDF collecting the waste from member HCFs and Occupier of the each HCF is the responsible authority for safe disposal and handing over the waste to CBWTF for treatment.
6) The State Pollution Control Board is further directed to fix the responsibility of the person/agency generating the medical waste and throwing it in the open place without any treatment facility and to take necessary legal action in adition to calculation and realization of environmental compensation in accordance with the Rules and Guidelines issued by the CPCB.
Compliance- The RSPCB had already fixed the responsibility of safe disposal of BMW and as per the Authorization under BMW Rules, 2016 every Occupier of each HCF is the responsible for the safe disposal of BMW in their respective premises.
For house hold generation of BMW the municipal corporation is the responsible authority for its collection, for further disposal of collected BMW to CBWTDF. Udaipur Municipal Council (UMC) also signed an agreement with CBWTDF for the same. The copy of agreement is annexed herewith and marked as Annexure-4
7) Action taken report by the CPCB for monitoring and implementing the Elio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016 and in the cases of noncompliance the action taken report by the Central Pollution Control Board.
Compliance- Shall be submitted by CPCB.
8) Generation capacity of RNT Medical Collage, Udaipur (with all Five attached hospitals) generation of waste, manner of transportation and manner of disposal of waste generated by the RNT Medical Collage, Udaipur.
22 Compliance- The five HCFs are associated with RNT medical college details as below:
Name of HCF Beds Avg.
Generation
M. B. Govt. Hospital 1592 233.5
(402.3tY
Pannadhay Raj. Mahila 540 10.2
Chikitsalaya
Seth Ram Vilas Bhuwallca 260 9.4
Yakshatna Arogya Sedan,
Bath Khemraj
Shri Katara 100 8.2
Satel.ite Hospital, Sec-06
Shri Sunder Singh 50 5.2
Bhanderi District
ItHospital, AmbaMata
is submitted that the generation of BMW is depending on occupancy of beds/day.
For collection and storage of BMW presently centralized storage facility as per colour code has been provided by the RNT medical college. The BMW generated in the various wards is being collected on daily basis and stored at designated place for further disposal. The stored BMW has been collected by the CBWTDF by the GPS enabled vehicle which can be monitored remotely.
9) Total number of member Health Care Facilities (HCFs) and total number of beds available in all these Health Care Facilities separately.
Compliance - For the year 2021, 1105 HCFs are active members having bed strength 9778. The details of active HCF's submitted by C3WTDF is annexed herewith and marked as Annexure-5.
10) Operational system of incinerator and auto-clave system and its operational capacity.
Compliance- The CBWTDF has provided 50 Kg/ Hr double chamber diesel tired incinerator with adequate stack height and OCEMS for measurement of PM, 02, CO, CO2 and temperature.
The CBWTDF has provided 450 Ltr/cycle vacuum type of autoclave.
11) Occupational safety of health care workers and others involved in handling of bio-medical waste.
Compliance- The facility and RNT medical college has vaccinated all the staff who is associated with the waste management system. The copy of the list of staff is annexed herewith and marked as Annexure-6.
12) Health check-up of all those who are involved in handling of biomedical waste.
Compliance- Annual health check-up has been carried out for all the workers of facility and RNT medical college who are associated with the biomedical waste 23 management. The Copy of the list of persons of the unit is annexed herewith and marked as Annexure-7.
13) Maintenance and updating of day to day bio-medical waste management register and displaying the monthly record on the website according to the bio-medical waste generated in terms of category is specified in Schedule-1.
Compliance- CBMWTF is maintaining and updating of day to day bio-medical waste management register. Directions were given by RSPCB for displaying the monthly record on the website according to the bic-medical waste generated in terms of category is specified in Schedule-I. The waste collection and disposal record of MB hospital for the month of Jan 2022 is annexed herewith and marked as Annexure-8.
13. The State Pollution Control Board had submitted further Action Taken Report on 23.03.2022 as follows:
"2. That Udaipur covers an area of 64 sq KM divided into 7O wards. The total solid waste generation in the city is about 180 TPD as per annual report 2020- 2021 submitted by the ULBs to RSPCB. In compliance of the directions passed by this Hon'ble Tribunal, the Municipal Corporation, Udaipur has adopted various practices for better management of solid waste which include Bio- Medical waste in the city, the details are as follows:
A) MSW generated from Udaipur City is door to door collected through auto trippers by Municipal Corporation, Udaipur and sent to transfer stations at Kumharo ka bhatta, Sikh colony, Udaipur.
B) In every tripper, there are three separate assortment bins for wet, dry, and household biomedical waste. These trippers carry the waste from households to the garbage transfer stations, from where the waste is moved to the dumping sites at Titardi and Balicha, Udaipur in hook loaders.
C) At transfer station, the dry and wet segregated waste is being transferred to dumping sites as per requirement through big capsule type container.
D) Balicha dumping site includes MRF Processing Facility-
50TPD, Bio-methanation Plant-20TPD, Sanitary landfill Area-2.1 Ha. (21,000Sqm).
24 E)Another dumping site Titardi includes MRF 30 TPD, for dry waste and a bio composting facility for wet waste on a land area about 1.5 Ha. Titardi was originally a 40 years old legacy waste dump site had around 80,000 meter cube of legacy waste. The land was reclaimed by Nagar Nigam Udaipur by sanitary capping of legacy waste in the year 2018 having a base area of 12,000 sq meter, top area of 4,000 sq meters and height of 10 meters.
The present waste collection infrastructure as below:
Total Wards 70 Primary waste door to door collection in 45 ward is being done by UMC and other wards are being done by outsourced agency Secondary waste Four (Kali Bavdi, Amal Ka Kata, Nadakheda and Collection Point Asin ki Haveli (Waste is collected through drainage line, road sweeping, through hand cart, tractors etc.) Secondary Waste 3 tractor, 1 Dumper, 3 compactor and 10 auto Collection Vehicle tripper Municipal Waste 180 TPD Generation Door to Door Outsourced collection vehicle Waste dumping About 12 Km from Udaipur city at Balicha dumping site About 10 KM from Udaipur City at Titardi dumping site Street Sweeping and Day to day basis on main roads and drain Waste drain cleaning drain cleaning Waste transfer point It is located near Kumharo Ka Bhatta, Sikh colony, Udaipur F) Domestic biomedical Waste consists of material as sanitary pads, napkins, cotton bandages etc. This Biomedical waste is being collected in a separate bin which is attached at the back of the waste collection TA vehicle and painted with red colour. This biomedical waste is stored separately at the garbage transfer point from where the dedicated vehicle of CBWTDF collected it on regular basis for further disposal as per norms of BMWM, Rules 2016.
3) That the Udaipur Municipal Corporation has made an agreement with M/s En-vision Enviro Ltd (CBWTDF) for daily collection of household biomedical waste from garbage transfer station located near sikh colony, the segregated waste is being handed over to the CBWTDF for final disposal. The copy of the agreement is annexed herewith and marked as Annexure-1.25
4) That to prevent any kind of illegal dumping of biomedical waste at Balicha site, the municipal corporation has issued work order for fencing work all around the dumping site and permanent gate at the entry to prevent any kind of unauthorized dumping. MC, Udaipur has appointed a security guard 24X7 for vigilance and monitoring of all vehicles details from Sept, 2021.
5) That to verify the show cause notice issued by RSPCB to Municipal Corporation, Udaipur on dated 29/12/2021, RSPCB officials inspected site on 07/01/2022. The copy of inspection report is annexed herewith and marked as Annexure -2.
6) That the State Board has not received any such complaints of illegal dumping of bio medical waste at MSW disposal sites since 27.09.2021."
14. The Municipal Corporation, Udaipur, Rajasthan has submitted as follows:
"4. That, it is further submitted that the Municipal Solid Waste(MSW) generated from Udaipur City is collected in segregated manner through auto trippers by Municipal Corporation, Udaipur and sent to transfer stations at Kumharo ka bhatta, Sikh colony, Udaipur. And each tripper has three separate assortment bins for wet, dry, and household biomedical waste. These trippers carry the waste from households to the garbage transfer stations situated at Kumharo ka bhatta, from where the waste is moved to the processing/Dumping site at Titardi and Balicha, Udaipur through hook loaders in capsule type container.
5. That, at transfer station, the dry and wet segregated waste is being transferred to the dumping sites as per requirement through big capsule type container. Balicha Dumping site has MRF Processing Facility: 50TPD, Bio-methanation Pant-20TPD, Sanitary landfull Area-2.1 Ha. (21,000Sqm).
6. That, another dumping site at Titardi includes MRF 30 TPD, for dry waste and a bio composting facility of 60 TPD capacity for wet waste on a land area about 1.5 Ha. Titardi was originally a 40 years old legacy waste dump site had around 80,000 meter cube of legacy waste. The land was reclaimed by Nagar Nigam Udaipur by capping of legacy waste in the year 2018-19 having a base area of 12,000 sq meter, top area of 4,000 sq meters and height of 10 meters. The present waste collection infrastructure is produced in a tabular from below for the kind perusal of the Hon'ble Tribunal:
Total Wards 70 Primary waste door to door collection in all 70 wards are being done by outsourced agency Secondary waste Collection Three (Kali Bavdi, Nadakheda and Point Asin ki Haveli, Amal ka Katta (Waste is collected through drainage line, 26 road sweeping, through hand cart, tractors etc.) Secondary Waste Collection 1 Dumper, 3 Tractor Trolleys, 10 Auto Vehicle tipper, 3 compactors Municipal Waste Generation 180 TPD Door to Door Arranged by outsource agency collection vehicle Waste About 12 Km from Udaipur city dumping At Balicha dumping site About 10 KM from Udaipur City at Titardi dumping site Street Day to day basis on main roads dan Sweeping and drain and night sweeping at drain cleaning important tourist places Waste transfer It is located near point Kumharo ka Bhatta, Sikh colony, Udaipur
7. That, the domestic biomedical Waste consists of sanitary pads, cotton bandages etc. This Biomedical waste is being collected in a separate bin which is attached at the back of the waste collection vehicle and painted with red colour. This biomedical waste is stored separately at the garbage transfer point from where the dedicated vehicle of CBWTF (M/s En-vision Enviro Ltd) collect it on regular basis for further disposal as per norms of BMWM, Rules 2016.
8. That, it is pertinent to bring to the notice of this Hon'ble Tribunal that the Udaipur Municipal Corporation has made an agreement with M/s En-vision Enviro Ltd (CBWTF) for daily collection of household biomedical waste from garbage transfer station located near Kumharo ka bhatta Sikh colony, the segregated waste is being handed over to the CBWTF for final disposal.
9. That, further to prevent any kind of illegal dumping of biomedical waste at Balicha site, the municipal corporation has issued work order for fencing work all around the dumping site and permanent gate at the entry to prevent any kind of unauthorized dumping for which the construction work is in progress. MC, Udaipur has appointed a security guard 24X7 for vigilance and monitoring of all vehicles from, Sept, 2021. "
15. The Central Government in exercise of powers conferred by Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 made Bio-Medical Waste(Management and Handling) Rules, 1998 in short: (1998 Rules) and looking at the continuous need for improvisation of the technique involved in disposing off bio medical waste, the Rules were amended in the year 2016 and then in the year 2019. Under the said Rules, the Prescribed Authority for the implementation of Bio Medical Norms is Respondent No. 2 Rajasthan Pollution Control Board. 27
16. The State Government vide order dated 10.07.2012 directed all the operators of all the Plants in state to ensure strict the compliance of 1998 Rules and to prepare a list of all Veterinary Hospitals Nursing Home, Clinic, Dispensary, Veterinary Institution, Animal House, Pathological Laboratory, Blood Bank, Health Care Facility and Clinical Establishment and forward it to Health Department, Environment Department and Pollution Control Board.
17. In order to discharge the biomedical waste, a common biomedical waste treatment facility is installed which consists of an incinerator, auto clave and other machineries. The need for shifting from captive incinerator to treatment facility arose due to the hazardous impact and extreme vigilance required for treating the biomedical wastes.
18. As per Environment Impact Act Notification, 2006 as amended vide notification of S.O.1142 E dated April 17, 2015, 'biomedical waste treatment facility' is categorized under item 7 (da) in the schedule and requires 'Environmental Clearance' from the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA). It is further submitted that facility of Respondent No.3 was installed in the year 2008 which was prior to the said notification. As per the guidelines issued by CPCB, a facility may require Environmental Clearance' as follows:
a) Expansion and modernization with additional treatment capacity of existing bio-medical waste treatment facility (excluding augmentation of incineration facility for compliance to the residence time 11 as well as Dioxins and Furans without enhancing the existing treatment capacity) b) In case of any expansion in the treatment capacity or relocation of the existing CBWTF.
19. As per Rule 12(4) of BMWM Rules, 2016 State Government shall constitute District Level Monitoring Committee in the districts under the Chairmanship of District Collector or District Magistrate or Deputy Commissioner or Additional District Magistrate to monitor the compliance 28 of the provisions of these rules in the health care facilities generating bio- medical waste and in the common biomedical waste treatment and disposal facilities. Further, as per Schedule III, State Government may take advise of State Pollution Control Boards on implementation of these Rules. Also, as mentioned hereinabove the said matter is presently pending before this Hon'ble Tribunal in Application No. 33 of 2017 (CZ) Rajdeep Biotech Vs. C.P.C.B and Others. Appropriate directions qua shifting of the said facility have been issued by this Hon'ble Tribunal in the said Application. The said Application being pending, the matter is rendered sub judice and thus does not merit a reply from the Answering Respondent save to the effect that the shifting of the said Facility be ensured by the State Government.
20. As per Rule 10 of BMWM Rules, 2016 every operator of CBWTF is required to obtain authorization under said rules from concerned State Pollution Control Board or Pollution Control Committee for ensuring that biomedical waste is collected, received, stored, transported, treated, processed, 12 disposed or handled in line with the provisions under BMWM Rules, 2016. Response in this regard may be sought from the Respondent RSPCB.
21. In exercise of the powers conferred by section 6, 8 and 25 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (29 of 1986), and in supersession of the Bio-Medical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998, the Central Government has framed the rules called the Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016 and relevant provisions are as follows:-
"
4. Duties of the Occupier.- It shall be the duty of every occupier to-
(a) take all necessary steps to ensure that bio-medical waste is handled without any adverse effect to human health and 29 the environment and in accordance with these rules;
(b) make a provision within the premises for a safe, ventilated and secured location for storage of segregated biomedical waste in colored bags or containers in the manner as specified in Schedule I, to ensure that there shall be no secondary handling, pilferage of recyclables or inadvertent scattering or spillage by animals and the bio-medical waste from such place or premises shall be directly transported in the manner as prescribed in these rules to the common bio-medical waste treatment facility or for the appropriate treatment and disposal, as the case may be, in the manner as prescribed in Schedule I;
(c) pre-treat the laboratory waste, microbiological waste, blood samples and blood bags through disinfection or sterilization on-site in the manner as prescribed by the World Health Organization (WHO) or National AIDs Control Organization (NACO) guidelines and then sent to the common bio-medical waste treatment facility for final disposal;
(d) phase out use of chlorinated plastic bags, gloves and blood bags within two years from the date of notification of these rules;
(e) dispose of solid waste other than bio-
medical waste in accordance with the
30
provisions of respective waste
management rules made under the
relevant laws and amended from time to
time;
(f) not to give treated bio-medical waste with municipal solid waste;
(g) provide training to all its health care workers and others, involved in handling of bio medical waste at the time of induction and thereafter at least once every year and the details of training programmes conducted, number of personnel trained and number of personnel not undergone any training shall be provided in the Annual Report;
(h) immunise all its health care workers and others, involved in handling of bio-
medical waste for protection against diseases including Hepatitis B and
Tetanus that are likely to be transmitted by handling of bio-medical waste, in the manner as prescribed in the National Immunisation Policy or the guidelines of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare issued from time to time;
(i) establish a Bar- Code System for bags or containers containing bio-medical waste to be sent out of the premises or place for any purpose within one year from the date of the notification of these rules;
(j) ensure segregation of liquid chemical 31 waste at source and ensure pre-treatment or neutralisation prior to mixing with other effluent generated from health care facilities;
(k) ensure treatment and disposal of liquid waste in accordance with the Water
(Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 ( 6 of 1974);
(l) ensure occupational safety of all its health care workers and others involved in handling of biomedical waste by providing appropriate and adequate personal protective equipments;
(m) conduct health check up at the time of induction and at least once in a year for all its health care workers and others involved in handling of bio- medical waste and maintain the records for the same;
(n) maintain and update on day to day basis the bio-medical waste management register and display the monthly record on its website according to the bio-medical waste generated in terms of category and colour coding as specified in Schedule I;
(o) report major accidents including accidents caused by fire hazards, blasts during handling of biomedical waste and the remedial action taken and the records relevant thereto, (including nil report) in Form I to the prescribed authority and also along with the annual report;
(p) make available the annual report on its 32 web-site and all the health care facilities shall make own website within two years from the date of notification of these rules;
(q) inform the prescribed authority immediately in case the operator of a facility does not collect the bio-medical waste within the intended time or as per the agreed time;
(r) establish a system to review and monitor the activities related to bio- medical waste management, either through an existing committee or by forming a new committee and the Committee shall meet once in every six months and the record of the minutes of
the meetings of this committee shall be submitted along with the annual report to the prescribed authority and the healthcare establishments having less than thirty beds shall designate a qualified person to review and monitor the activities relating to bio-medical waste management within that establishment and submit the annual report;
(s) maintain all record for operation of incineration, hydro or autoclaving etc., for a period of five years;
(t) existing incinerators to achieve the standards for treatment and disposal of bio-medical waste as specified in
Schedule II for retention time in secondary chamber and Dioxin and Furans within 33 two years from the date of this notification.
5. Duties of the operator of a common bio-
medical waste treatment and disposal facility.-It shall be the duty of every operator to -
(a) take all necessary steps to ensure that the bio-medical waste collected from the occupier is transported, handled, stored, treated and disposed of, without any adverse effect to the human health and the environment, in accordance with these rules and guidelines issued by the Central Government or, as the case may be, the central pollution control board from time to time;
(b) ensure timely collection of bio-medical waste from the occupier as prescribed under these rules;
(c) establish bar coding and global
positioning system for handling of bio-
medical waste within one year;
(d) inform the prescribed authority
immediately regarding the occupiers
which are not handing over the segregated bio- medical waste in accordance with these rules;
(e) provide training for all its workers involved in handling of bio-medical waste at the time of induction and at least once a year thereafter;
(f) assist the occupier in training conducted by them for bio- medical waste 34 management;
(g) undertake appropriate medical examination at the time of induction and at least once in a year and immunise all its workers involved in handling of bio-
medical waste for protection against diseases, including Hepatitis B and
Tetanus, that are likely to be transmitted while handling bio- medical waste and maintain the records for the same;
(h) ensure occupational safety of all its workers involved in handling of bio-medical waste by providing appropriate and adequate personal protective equipment;
(i) report major accidents including accidents caused by fire hazards, blasts during handling of biomedical waste and the remedial action taken and the records relevant thereto, (including nil report) in Form I to the prescribed authority and also along with the annual report;
(j) maintain a log book for each of its treatment equipment according to weight of batch; categories of waste treated; time, date and duration of treatment cycle and total hours of operation;
(k) allow occupier , who are giving waste for treatment to the operator, to see whether the treatment is carried out as per the rules;
(l) shall display details of authorisation, treatment, annual report etc on its web-
35
site;
(m) after ensuring treatment by autoclaving or microwaving followed by mutilation or shredding, whichever is applicable, the recyclables from the treated bio-medical wastes such as plastics and glass, shall be given to recyclers having valid consent or authorisation or registration from the respective State Pollution Control Board or Pollution Control Committee;
(n) supply non-chlorinated plastic coloured bags to the occupier on chargeable basis, if required;
(o) common bio-medical waste treatment facility shall ensure collection of biomedical waste on holidays also;
(p) maintain all record for operation of incineration, hydroor autoclaving for a period of five years; and
(q) upgrade existing incinerators to achieve the standards for retention time in secondary chamber and Dioxin and Furans within two years from the date of this notification.
6. Duties of authorities.-The Authority specified in column (2) of Schedule-III shall perform the duties as specified in column (3) thereof in accordance with the provisions of these rules.
7. Treatment and disposal.-
(1) Bio-medical waste shall be treated and disposed of in accordance with Schedule I, 36 and in compliance with the standards provided in Schedule-II by the health care facilities and common bio-medical waste treatment facility.
(2) Occupier shall hand over segregated waste as per the Schedule-I to common bio-medical waste treatment facility for treatment, processing and final disposal:
Provided that the lab and highly infectious bio-medical waste generated shall be pre-
treated by equipment like autoclave or microwave.
(3) No occupier shall establish on-site treatment and disposal facility, if a service of `common biomedical waste treatment facility is available at a distance of seventy-five kilometer.
(4) In cases where service of the common bio-medical waste treatment facility is not available, the Occupiers shall set up requisite biomedical waste treatment equipment like incinerator, autoclave or microwave, shredder prior to commencement of its operation, as per the authorisation given by the prescribed authority.
(5) Any person including an occupier or operator of a common bio medical waste treatment facility, intending to use new technologies for treatment of bio medical waste other than those listed in Schedule I shall request the Central Government for laying down the standards or operating 37 parameters.
(6) On receipt of a request referred to in sub-rule (5), the Central Government may determine the standards and operating parameters for new technology which may be published in Gazette by the Central Government.
(7) Every operator of common bio-medical waste treatment facility shall set up requisite biomedical waste treatment equipments like incinerator, autoclave or microwave, shredder and effluent treatment plant as a part of treatment, prior to commencement of its operation.
(8) Every occupier shall phase out use of non-chlorinated plastic bags within two years from the date of publication of these rules and after two years from such publication of these rules, the chlorinated plastic bags shall not be used for storing and transporting of bio-medical waste and the occupier or operator of a common bio-
medical waste treatment facility shall not dispose of such plastics by incineration and the bags used for storing and transporting biomedical waste shall be in compliance with the Bureau of Indian Standards. Till the Standards are published, the carry bags shall be as per the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2011.
(9) After ensuring treatment by autoclaving or microwaving followed by 38 mutilation or shredding, whichever is applicable, the recyclables from the treated bio-medical wastes such as plastics and glass shall be given to such recyclers having valid authorisation or registration from the respective prescribed authority.
(10) The Occupier or Operator of a common bio-medical waste treatment facility shall maintain a record of recyclable wastes referred to in sub-rule (9) which are auctioned or sold and the same shall be submitted to the prescribed authority as part of its annual report. The record shall be open for inspection by the prescribed authorities.
(11) The handling and disposal of all the mercury waste and lead waste shall be in accordance with the respective rules and regulations.
8. Segregation, packaging, transportation and storage.
-(1) No untreated bio-medical waste shall be mixed with other wastes.
(2) The bio-medical waste shall be segregated into containers or bags at the point of generation in accordance with Schedule I prior to its storage, transportation, treatment and disposal. (3) The containers or bags referred to in sub-rule (2) shall be labeled as specified in Schedule IV.
39 (4) Bar code and global positioning system shall be added by the Occupier and common bio-medical waste treatment facility in one year time.
(5) The operator of common bio-medical waste treatment facility shall transport the bio-medical waste from the premises of an occupier to any off-site bio-medical waste treatment facility only in the vehicles having label as provided in part 'A' of the Schedule IV along with necessary information as specified in part 'B' of the Schedule IV.
(6) The vehicles used for transportation of bio-medical waste shall comply with the conditions if any stipulated by the State Pollution Control Board or Pollution Control Committee in addition to the requirement contained in the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (59 of 1988), if any or the rules made there under for transportation of such infectious waste.
(7) Untreated human anatomical waste, animal anatomical waste, soiled waste and, biotechnology waste shall not be stored beyond a period of forty -eight hours:
Provided that in case for any reason it becomes necessary to store such waste beyond such a period, the occupier shall take appropriate measures to ensure that the waste does not adversely affect 40 human health and the environment and inform the prescribed authority along with the reasons for doing so.
(8) Microbiology waste and all other clinical laboratory waste shall be pre-
treated by sterilisation to Log 6 or
disinfection to Log 4, as per the World
Health Organisation guidelines before
packing and sending to the common
bio-medical waste treatment facility.
18. Liability of the occupier, operator of a facility.-
(1) The occupier or an operator of a common bio-medical waste treatment facility shall be liable for all the damages caused to the environment or the public due to improper handling of bio- medical wastes.
(2) The occupier or operator of common bio-
medical waste treatment facility shall be liable for action under section 5 and section 15 of the Act, in case of any violation."
22. The Schedule 1 of the rule provides the category of the bag which required to be used as a container and disposal option.
23. Part II of the rules provide as follows:-
1. All plastic bags shall be as per BIS standards as and when published, till then the prevailing Plastic Waste Management Rules shall be applicable.
2. Chemical treatment using at least 10% Sodium Hypochlorite having 30% residual chlorine for twenty minutesor any other 41 equivalent chemical reagent that should demonstrate Log104 reduction efficiency for microorganisms as given in Schedule- III.
3. Mutilation or shredding must be to an extent to prevent unauthorized reuse.
4. There will be no chemical pretreatment before incineration, except for microbiological, lab and highly infectious waste.
5. Incineration ash (ash from incineration of any bio-medical waste) shall be disposed through hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal facility, if toxic or hazardous constituents are present beyond the prescribed limits as given in the Hazardous Waste (Management, Handling and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2008 or as revised from time to time.
6. Dead Fetus below the viability period (as per the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act 1971, amended from time to time) can be considered as human anatomical waste. Such waste should be handed over to the operator of common bio- medical waste treatment and disposal facility in yellow bag with a copy of the official Medical Termination of Pregnancy certificate from the Obstetrician or the Medical Superintendent of hospital or healthcare establishment.42
7. Cytotoxic drug vials shall not be handed over to unauthorised person under any circumstances. These shall be sent back to the manufactures for necessary disposal at a single point. As a second option, these may be sent for incineration at common bio-medical waste treatment and disposal facility or TSDFs or plasma pyrolys is at temperature >1200 0C.
8. Residual or discarded chemical wastes, used or discarded disinfectants and chemical sludge can be disposed at hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal facility. In such case, the waste should be sent to hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal facility through operator of common bio-medical waste treatment and disposal facility only.
9. On-site pre-treatment of laboratory waste, microbiological waste, blood samples, blood bags should be disinfected or sterilized as per the Guidelines of World Health Organisation or National AIDS Control Organisation and then given to the common bio-medical waste treatment and disposal facility.
10. Installation of in-house incinerator is not allowed. However in case there is no common biomedical facility nearby, the same may be installed by the occupier after taking authorisation from the State 43 Pollution Control Board.
11. Syringes should be either mutilated or needles should be cut and or stored in tamper proof, leak proof and puncture proof containers for sharps storage.
Wherever the occupier is not linked to a disposal facility it shall be the responsibility of the occupier to sterilize and dispose in the manner prescribed.
12. Bio-medical waste generated in households during healthcare activities shall be segregated as per these rules and handed over in separate bags or containers to municipal waste collectors. Urban Local Bodies shall have tie up with the common bio-medical waste treatment and disposal facility to pickup this waste from the Material Recovery Facility (MRF) or from the house hold directly, for final disposal in the manner as prescribed in this Schedule."
24. The Learned Counsel appearing for CPCB has submitted that the action taken by the CPCB was in accordance with the guidelines and rules as framed in the Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016 and specifically in compliance of the order dated 15.07.2019 passed in original application no.710/2017 Shaliesh Singh Vs. Sheela Hospital & Trauma Centre, Shahjahanpur & Ors. in which the Principal Bench of this Tribunal directed as follows:
"
3. Reference was also made to the report of the CAG placed on its website in May, 2017 44 as follows:
"Inadequate facility of bio-medical waste (BMW) treatment. As per the report paragraph 2.1.9.5 there were 8,366 Health Care Establishments (HCEs) out of which 3,362 HCEs were operating without authorization. Total BMW generated in the State was 37,498 kg/day out of which only 35,816 kg/day was treated and disposed of. BMW of 1,682 kg/day was being disposed of untreated due to inadequate treatment facility. But UPPCB failed to monitor unauthorised operation and untreated disposal of BMW and did not take any action against the defaulters."
5. The Tribunal noted that the steps taken in the State of Uttar Pradesh for compliance of the BMW Rules were inadequate. The regulatory regime was required to be stern in view of impact on public health by unscientific disposal of bio-medical waste. Such unscientific disposal must result in prosecution and recovery of deterrent compensation so that non-compliance is not profitable. The Tribunal noted that not a single person was shown to have been convicted in spite of large violation, nor any compensation was shown to have been recovered. No scale of compensation had been 45 laid down, no action plan had been prepared.
The unsatisfactory state of affairs was not confined to the State of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Uttarakhand who
were before the Tribunal but also to the other States. The BMW Rules provide for furnishing of annual reports by the States to the CPCB and by the CPCB to the MoEF&CC and also being made available on the website of the concerned State. The Tribunal directed all the States and UTs to furnish such reports by 30.04.2019, for the period such reports were due before 30.04.2019, failing which the defaulting States will be required to pay compensation at the rate of Rs. 1 Crore per month after 01.05.2019. The States were also required to prepare their respective action plans within one month. The Tribunal also directed the CPCB to furnish its comments on the action plans and to undertake study and prepare a scale of compensation to be recovered from the violators of BMW Rules without prejudice to the State PCBs taking steps for recovery of compensation from the polluters or laying down their own scales which should not be less than the scale of the CPCB.
6. Accordingly, a report has been filed by the CPCB certain extracts from the report are as follows:
"
2.3.1 Inventory of HCFs and Biomedical Waste Generation:
46
Incomplete inventory on biomedical waste generation is an evident from the fact that biomedical waste generation reported by SPCBs is not proportional to the population in
States/UTs. Generation of biomedical waste across States is reported as Bihar (6 %), Delhi (4.4 %), Gujarat (5.21 %), Karnataka (12 %), Kerala (7.35 %), Maharashtra (11.10 %), Rajasthan (4.03 %), Tamil Nadu (8.39 %), Uttar Pradesh (7.81 %) & West Bengal (5.34 %) which is not proportional to population States.
Therefore, SPCBs/PCCs should
complete inventory of all HCFs (both
bedded and non-bedded) to assess
quantity of biomedical waste
generation as well as to ensure
effective treatment and disposal of
biomedical waste generated by them.
As per annual information, out
of 559 tonnes, about 518 tonnes of
biomedical waste generated per day
is treated and disposed through 198
no. of common facilities and 9,841
captive treatment facility installed by Healthcare facilities. However, quantity of biomedical waste reported is not reliable or accurate since inventory of healthcare facilities and biomedical waste generation in not yet 47 completed by all States.
States initiated Inventory studies: Lakshadweep, Andaman Nicobar, Tripura, Daman & Diu, Delhi, Chandigarh, Telangana, Kerala, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Mizoram,
Maharashtra, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, MP and Meghalaya.
States not reported status of
inventory study: Jammu & Kashmir,
Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, West
Bengal, Assam and Odisha.
2.3.2 Operation of Healthcare
Facilities without Authorization:
As per BMWM Rules, 2016, Healthcare
Facilities are required to obtain
authorization under said Rules,
irrespective of quantity of biomedical waste generation. Annual information indicates that out of 2,38,259 of HCFs, only 97,099 (40%) no. of HCFs have applied for authorization and 84,805 {35%) HCFs are granted authorization under BMWM Rules, 2016. This indicates that about 25 % of the identified HCFs are not yet authorized by SPCBs and biomedical waste management by such facilities could not be monitored.
48
States namely Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh & West Bengal permitted
use of deep burial pits for the disposal of biomedical waste despite having Common Disposal Facilities.
2.3.5 States without Common Treatment & Disposal Facilities:
States like Arunachal Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar, Goa, Lakshadweep, Mizoram, and Nagaland &Sikkim are not having CBWTF for the treatment & disposal of biomedical waste.
States namely Andaman Nicobar, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, J & K, Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Orissa, Puducherry, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have not submitted any information on implementation of Barcode system.
2.3.11 Constitution of State Level Advisory Committees: States namely Jammu & Kashmir, Lakshadweep and Sikkim have not yet constituted the said Committees as required under BMWM Rules, 2016.
49 3.0 Submission of Action Plans by State Governments: States namely Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Daman &Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Goa, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Lakshadweep, Manipur, Meghalaya, Punjab, Tamilnadu, Telangana, Uttarakhand and West Bengal have not submitted Action pans within due date for submission, that is one month from order of Hon'ble Tribunal dated 12/03/2019.
3.1 Performance Guarantee by Government of Uttar Pradesh State: In this regard, Uttar Pradesh State has not submitted Performance Guarantee to CPCB on compliance to Action Plan submitted by them.
3.2 Key Performance Indicators:
CPCB has identified the following Key Performance Indicators for assessing treatment and .disposal of biomedical waste, and effectiveness in implementation of BMWM Rules, 2016;
(1) Inventory of all Healthcare Facilities and biomedical waste generation. (2) Authorization to all Healthcare
Facilities including non-bedded HCFs.
(3) Facilitate setting-up adequate number of Common Biomedical Waste Treatment Facilities (CBWTFs) to cover entire State or all HCFs.
(4) Constitution of State Advisory Monitoring Committee and District Level Monitoring Committee.
(5) Implementation status of Barcode system.
(6) Monitoring of Healthcare Facilities other than hospitals/clinics such as Veterinary Hospitals, Animal 50 Houses, AYUSH Hospitals etc. Review of Action Plans:
Table 3: Scoring of States/ UTs for effectiveness of Action Plans S.No Name of Action plan Score State received S.No Name of State from SPCB/PCCs & Score Health Department 1 Sikkim Health Department 1 2 Arunachal SPCB 1 Pradesh 3 Lakshadweep Health Department 2 .5 4 J&K Health Department 3 5 Mizoram Health Department 3 6 Manipur Health 3
Department 7 Uttar Pradesh Health 3 .5
Department 8 Nagaland Health 3.5 Departmen t A score of 7 and above is indicated as an adequate action plan, score between 4-6.5 considered as satisfactory action plan whereas a score of less than 4 is considered not satisfactory.
2.0 Environmental Compensation for Healthcare Facilities (HCFs):
Environmental Compensation for
HCFs = HR x T x S x R x N
Where;
HR - Health Risk factor
T- Type of
Healthcare
Facility S -
51
Size of Health
Care Facility
R - Environmental
Compensation factor N -
Number of days of
Violation
HR Health Risk (HR) is a number from
0 to 100 and increasing HR value
denotes the increasing degree of
health risk due to improper handling of BMW in healthcare facility.
Further, in any case minimum Environmental Compensation in respect to Healthcare Facility shall not be less than Rs.1200/- per day.
2.1 Deterrent Factor for Healthcare Facilities:
Incremental effect on Environmental compensation charges are given below:
Scenario Applicable ECC
Up to 15 target date Original ECC
Days from target date
Between 15 to 30 days Two times
beyond target date
Fails to comply in 2nd Two times
Inspections including
new violations if any
Between 30 to 45 days Four times
beyond target date
Fails to comply in Four times
3rd inspections
including
new violations if any
Beyond 60 Closure of HCF
target date
days
from
52
Fails to comply in 4th Closure of HCF
consecutive inspection
3.0 Environmental Compensation for Common Biomedical Waste Treatment Facility (CBWTF):
Environmental Compensation for CBWTFs = PI x S x R x N Environmental Compensation Where;
PI- Pollution Index S - Size of Operation R - Environmental Compensation factor N -
Number of days of Violation Further, in any case minimum Environmental Compensation in respect to Common Biomedical Waste Treatment Facility shall not be less than Rs. 3,000/-
per day.
3.1 Deterrent Factor for Common Biomedical Waste Treatment Facilities:
Incremental effect on Environmental compensation charges are given below:
Scenario Applicable ECC Up to 30 days from target date Original ECC Between 30 to 60 days Two times beyond target date Fails to comply in 2nd Two times inspection including new violations if any Between 60 to 90 days Four times beyond target date "
Beyond 90 days Closure of CBWTF
Fails to comply in 3rd Closure of CBWTF
consecutive inspection
53
7. We have heard learned counsel for the parties available before this Tribunal. We do not see any objection to the recommendations of the CPCB. No meaningful objection has been raised by any of the parties.
Accordingly, the report of the CPCB is accepted. The same may be placed on the website of the CPCB for three months. All the States/UTs may take action according to the said report.
8.The States/UTs may furnish complete inventory of HCFs and BMW generation within two months and where the
inventories are incomplete, the same may be completed. We place on record our disapproval of the inaction of States in furnishing the inventory studies as well as for incomplete inventories. It is regretful to note that 25% of identified HCFs have not even taken authorization from the concerned State PCBs in absence of which, monitoring of waste management is not taking place.
The States which have not set up common treatment and disposal facility must do so within two months as per Rules. The States who have not furnished the information on the barcode system may also furnish such information at the earliest but not beyond two months. The States which 54 have not yet constituted State Level Advisory Committee may also do so within two months. The action plans and their execution must be carried out having regard to the key performance indicators. The States which have inadequate action plans, not satisfactory action plans, needing further actions must also do the needful within two months realizing their responsibility to the environment and public health which ought to be monitored directly by the Chief Secretaries in terms of order of this Tribunal dated 16.01.2019 in O.A. No. 606/2018 and further orders in the said matter. By the further order in the said matter in the case of all the States, directions were issued that Chief Secretaries may personally monitor compliance of environmental norms (including BMW Rules) with the District Magistrate once every month. The District Magistrates may conduct such monitoring twice every month. We find it necessary to add that in view of Constitutional provisions under Articles 243 G, 243 W, 243 ZD read with Schedules 11 and 12 and Rule 15 of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, it is necessary to have a District Environment Plan to be operated by a District Committee (as a part of District Planning Committee under Article 243 ZD) with representatives from Panchayats, Local 55 Bodies, Regional Officers, State PCB and a suitable officer representing the administration, which may in turn be chaired and monitored by the District Magistrate. Such District Environment Plans and Constitution of District Committee may be placed on the website of Districts concerned.
The monthly report of monitoring by the District Magistrate may be furnished to the Chief Secretary and may be placed on the website of the District and kept on such websites for a period of one year. This may be made operative from 1.08.2019.
Compliance of this direction may also be seen by the Chief Secretaries of the States/UTs. This may not only comply with mandate of law but provide an institutional mechanism for effective monitoring of environment norms. Needless to say that right to clean environment being part of right to life, such effective monitoring is a must.
Such monitoring must include issues specified in the order of this Tribunal dated 16.01.2019, O.A No. 606/2018, Para 40 which is as follows:- "a. Status of compliance of SWM Rule,
2016, Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016 and Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016 in their respective areas.
b. Status of functioning of Committees constituted by this order.
56 c. Status of the Action Plan in compliance vide order dated 20.09.2018 in the News Item published in "The Hindu" authored 25 by Shri Jacob Koshy Titled "More river stretches are now critically polluted: CPCB (Original Application No. 673/2018).
d. Status of functioning of Committees constituted in News Item Published in "The Times of India' Authored by Shri Vishwa Mohan Titled "NCAP with Multiple timelines to Clear Air in 102 Cities to be released around August 15" dated 08.10.2018.
e. Status of Action Plan with regard to identification of polluted industrial clusters in O.A. No. 1038/2018, News item published in "The Asian Age" Authored by Sanjay Kaw Titled "CPCB to rank industrial units on pollution levels" dated 13.12.2018.
f. Status of the work in compliance of the directions passed in O.A. No. 173 of 2018, Sudarsan Das v.
State of West Bengal &Ors. Order dated 04.09.2018.
g. Total amount collected from erring industries on the basis of 'Polluter Pays' principle, 'Precautionary principle' and details of utilization of funds collected.
h. Status of the identification and development of Model Cities and Towns in the State in the first phase which can be 57 replicated later for other cities and towns of the State."
9. Further important issues flagged for monitoring include training programs for the officers concerned with enforcement of environment norms at the ground level, reuse of treated water, recharge of ground water, conservation of water bodies. It has been brought to our notice that State PCBs our facing certain handicaps in performing their functions for want of adequate staff and infrastructure.
While this is a matter to be reviewed by concerned Chief Secretaries, the State PCBs/PCCs are free to prepare and execute appropriate plans for utilizing the
environment restoration fund with the approval of CPCB. The expenditure may include hiring of experts and consultants, expanding air and water quality monitoring network, procurement of scientific equipment, undertaking restitution remediation and specialized studies on contaminated sites so that there is effective oversight for enforcement of law. Under no circumstances these funds be spent on salaries, logistics etc.
10. The compensation regime suggested by the CPCB may be adopted. It will be open to the State PCBs/PCCs to adopt a higher scale of compensation, having regard to the problems faced in such States/UTs.
11. It is made clear that if even after two 58 months the States/UTs are found to be non-
compliant, the compensation will be liable to be recovered from the said States/UTs at the rate of Rs. 1 Crore per month till the non-
compliance continues.
12. The CPCB may file further progress report in the matter after coordination through the concerned authorities of the States, including the State Boards/other Health Departments.
13. The Chief Secretaries may furnish their respective compliance reports as per orders passed in O.A No. 606/2018, Compliance of Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.
25. The Learned Counsel appearing for the applicant has submitted that that issue of segregation of the waste is the liability of the healthcare facility as envisage in rule 4(b) and rule 4(j) and rule 3(m) of the Bio Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016. The relevant rules are quoted below:
Rule 3(m):
"occupier" means a person having
administrative control over the
institution and the premises generating bio- medical waste, which includes a hospital, nursing home, clinic, dispensary, veterinary institution, animal house, pathological laboratory, blood bank, health care facility and clinical establishment, irrespective of their system of medicine and by whatever name they are called;59
Rule 4: It shall be a duty of every occupier to -
(b) make a provision within the
premises for a safe, ventilated and
secured location for storage of
segregated biomedical waste in colored bags or containers in the manner as specified in Schedule I, to ensure that there shall be no secondary handling, pilferage of recyclables or inadvertent scattering or spillage by animals and the bio-medical waste from such place or premises shall be directly transported in the manner as prescribed in these rules to the common bio-
medical waste treatment facility or for the appropriate treatment and disposal, as the case may be, in the manner as prescribed in Schedule I;
(j) ensure segregation of liquid chemical waste at source and ensure pre-
treatment or neutralisation prior to mixing with other effluent generated from health care facilities."
26. It is further argued that due to improper segregation of waste at source by the healthcare facilities the collected biomedical waste has been segregated in the premises before treatment by the CBWTF and the segregated incinerable waste had been fed into the of primary chamber through mechanical feeding system for incineration.
Moreover, if the biomedical waste is not segregated before putting the waste in the incinerator, there is every likelihood of damage being 60 caused to the incinerator the non incinerable waste is treated in the incinerator.
27. It is further argued on behalf of the Learned Counsel for the applicant that handling, treatment and disposal of waste generated during treatment/diagnosis/quarantine of COVID-19 patients are not being done as per the direction and observation made by Principal Bench of this Tribunal passed in O.A. No. 124/2017. The Central Pollution Control Board has issued guidelines on 21st July, 2020 for handling, treatment and disposal of waste generated during treatment/diagnosis/quarantine of COVID-19 patients. In order to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic various steps have been initiated which include setting up of quarantine centers/camps/isolation wards, central collection centers and laboratories and therefore, Central Pollution Control Board on 21 st July, 2020 has issued specific guidelines for the management of waste generated during diagnostics and treatment of COVID-19 suspect and confirmed patients and these guidelines have not been followed by the State Authorities and the respondents.
28. It is further argued that COVID-19 materials like masks, gloves, kits all other things which are being used by the medical staff or other patients and the authority are not being disposed of according to the rules or according to the parameter laid down by the Central Pollution Control Board.
29. After the COVID-19, the Central Pollution Control Board on 21.07.2020 issued revised guidelines for handling, treatment and disposal of waste generated during treatment/diagnosis/quarantine of COVID-19 patients as follows:-
" In order to deal with COVID-19 pandemic, 61 State and Central Governments have initiated various steps which includes setting up of quarantine centers/camps, Isolation wards, samples collection centers and laboratories.
Following specific guidelines for management of waste generated during diagnostics and treatment of COIVID-19 suspected/ confirmed patients are required to be followed by all the stakeholders including isolation wards, quarantine centers, sample collection centers, laboratories, ULBs and common biomedical waste treatment and disposal facilities, in addition to existing practices under BMW Management Rules, 2016.
These guidelines are based on current knowledge on COVID-19 and existing
practices in management of infectious waste generated in hospitals while treating viral and other contagious diseases like HIV, H1N1, etc. These guidelines will be updated if need arises. This revised guidelines issued to provide revised guidance on segregation of general solid waste and biomedical waste from quarantine centers/home-
care/healthcare facilities treating COVID-19 patients and to recommend on disposal of PPEs.
Guidelines brought out by WHO, MoH&FW, ICMR, CDC and other concerned agencies from time to time may also be referred for 62 understanding other aspects related to COVID-19.
Guidelines for handling, treatment and disposal of COVID-19 waste at Healthcare Facilities, Home-care, Sample Collection Centers, Laboratories, SPCBs/PCCs, ULBs and CBWTFs is give below:
(a) COVID-19 Isolation wards: (isolation wards are those where COVID-19 positive patients are being kept for treatment / diagnosis) Healthcare Facilities having isolation wards including temporary Healthcare Facilities like rail coach wards, COVID Care Centers etc. for COVID-19 patients need to follow these steps to ensure safe handling and disposal of biomedical waste generated during treatment;
-Keep separate color coded bins (with foot operated lids}/bags/containers in wards and maintain proper segregation of waste as per BMWM Rules, 2016 as amended and CPCB guidelines for implementation of BMW Management Rules.
-As precaution double layered bags (using 2 bags) should be used for collection of waste from COVID-19 isolation wards so as to ensure adequate strength and no-
leaks;
-Collect and store biomedical waste
separately prior to handing over the same
63
CBWTF. Use a dedicated collection bin
labelled as "COVID-19" to store COVID-19 waste and keep separately in temporary storage room prior to handing over to authorized staff of CBWTF. Biomedical waste collected in such isolation wards can also be lifted directly from ward into CBWTF collection van.
In addition to mandatory leveling,
bags/containers used for collecting
biomedical waste from COVID-19 wards, should be labeled as "COVID-19 Waste".
This marking would enable CBWTFs to identify the waste easily for priority treatment and disposal immediately upon the receipt."
30. The matter of compliance of the disposal of waste was taken up by the Principal Bench of this Tribunal in O.A No. 95 of 2018 titled as Aryavart Foundation vs. M/s Vapi Green Enviro Ltd. & Ors vide order dated 05.02.2021 and observed as follows:
The environmental law principles, which this Tribunal is mandated to apply under sections 20 and 15 of the NGT Act, 2010, are - 'sustainable development', 'precautionery' and 'polluter pays'. In Hanuman Luxman, (2019) 15 SCC 401, (paras 142-156), significance of environmental rule of law has been highlighted to achieve sustainable development goals for 14 prosperity, health and well being. This requires filling of gap between law and enforcement. In T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad v. Union of India, (2002) 10 SCC 606, at page 621, it was observed that the State has to "forge in its policy to maintain ecological balance and hygienic environment. Article 21 protects right to life as a fundamental right. Enjoyment of life and its attainment including the right to life with human dignity 64 encompasses within its ambit, the protection and preservation of environment, ecological balance free from pollution of air and water, sanitation without which life cannot be enjoyed. Any contra acts or actions would cause environmental pollution. Therefore, hygienic environment is an integral facet of right to healthy life and it would be impossible to live with human dignity without a humane and healthy environment.
Environmental protection, therefore, has now become a matter of grave concern for human existence. Promoting environmental protection implies maintenance of the environment as a whole comprising the man-made and the natural environment. Therefore, there is constitutional imperative on the Central Government, State Governments and bodies like municipalities, not only to ensure and safeguard proper environment but also an imperative duty to take adequate measures to promote, protect and improve the man-made environment and natural environment."
13. In A.P. Pollution Control Board v. Prof. M.V. Nayudu, (1999) 2 SCC 718, at page 732, it was observed "..Good governance is an accepted principle of international and domestic laws. .....It includes the need for the State to take the necessary "legislative, administrative and other actions" to implement the duty of prevention of environmental harm...". In Techi Taga Tara, supra, the Hon'ble Supreme Court referred to several Committees on need for revamping the regulatory bodies by appointing persons of outstanding ability and high reputation to the State PCBs and equipping them with laboratories and other equipment for performing statutory functions. Apart from the Tribunal being approached under sections 14 and 15 by aggrieved parties, pointing out degradation of environment and inaction of the statutory regulators, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has required this Tribunal to monitor compliance of such statutory obligations for protecting environment. This is not possible unless the statutory regulators are effective. Significant issues so referred by the Hon'ble Supreme Court include a) liquid waste management, (2017) 5 SCC 326, Paryavaran Suraksha vs. Union of India & Ors. wherein it was directed that requisite STPs, ETPs, CETPs must be set up by 31.3.2018, failing which coercive measures may be taken against concerned authorities, to enforce 65 statutory mandate of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act enacted in 1974, prohibiting any water pollution, making it a criminal offence. b) compliance of solid waste management rules. Vide order dated 2.9.2014 in WP 888/1996, Almitra H. Patel Vs. Union of India & Ors. on the file of the Supreme Court, the issue has been referred to this Tribunal for monitoring compliance of Solid Waste Management Rules. c) In (2015) 12 SCC 764, MC Mehta v. UOI, issue of rejuvenation of Ganga stands referred to this Tribunal. d) Vide order dated 24.7.2017 in WP 725/1994, 'And quite flows Yamuna', rejuvenation of Yamuna stands referred to this Tribunal. It is not necessary to refer to several other orders. Finding that statutory regulators were not effective and serious damage was continuing, the Tribunal has appointed independent monitoring Committees on several issues. In substance, monitoring of the enacted environmental laws including the Water Act, Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and Rules framed thereunder needs to be reviewed and made effective in the interest of protection of environment and public health. This is not possible unless the regulatory bodies are duly manned and equipped and function efficiently. The report shows that it is not happening and there are huge gaps. With such gaps, it is only a dream to expect clean environment - fresh water or fresh air. Irreversible degradation of environment is bound to result in avoidable deaths and diseases and loss of scarce and good quality water, air and soil and biodiversity.
14. The findings in the report showing gaps resulting in large scale non compliances in enforcement of environmental laws are supported by observations of this Tribunal, which include the following:
(I) OA 593/2017, Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti & Anr. vs. Union of India & Ors.4, involves monitoring of liquid waste management in terms of orders of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in (2017) 5 SCC 326.
We have found that as a result of continuing failure of the statutory authorities to ensure compliance, industrial as well as municipal liquid waste is being discharged resulting in pollution of groundwater as well as surface water, including water bodies, drains, streams, rivers and coastal areas. The Tribunal has noted that as per data compiled by the CPCB, 351 river stretches are declared polluted. Comprehensive Environment Pollution Index (CEPI) prepared by the CPCB shows that 100 industrial clusters are polluted. The Tribunal is also dealing with the remedial action 66 for restoration of the 351 stretches in OA 673/20185, In Re: News item published in "The Hindu" authored by Shri Jacob Koshy, titled "More river stretches are now critically polluted: CPCB" for which the Tribunal has directed preparation and execution of action plans for each of such stretches by constituting River Rejuvenation Committees (RRCs) for all States/UTs headed by Environment Secretaries which action needs to be overseen by the Chief Secretaries at the State level and by a Central Monitoring Committee (CMC) headed by Secretary, Jal Shakti alongwith NMCG and CPCB at the national level. OA 829/20196, Lt. Col. Sarvadaman Singh Oberoi v. Union of India & Ors. deals with the remedying of coastal pollution for which directions have been issued on the same pattern for preparation and execution of action plans by the RRCs to be overseen by the Chief Secretaries at the State level and by the CMC at the national level. The same order also deals with utilisation of treated water, being OA 148/2016, Mahesh Chandra Saxena vs South Delhi Municipal Corporation & Ors. and OA 325/20157, Lt. Col. Sarvadaman Singh Oberoi v. Union of India & Ors., dealing with the issue of restoration of water bodies by removing encroachments and preventing pollution has been dealt with by this Tribunal. OA 176/2015, Shailesh Singh v. Hotel Holiday Regency, Moradabad & Ors. 8, the Tribunal has directed monitoring of groundwater extraction to give effect to the mandate in Hon'ble Supreme Court judgment in M.C. Mehta v. Union of India & Ors. (1997) 11 SCC 312.
(II) Apart from water pollution, air pollution the issue air pollution has been dealt with by this Tribunal by separate order in OA 681/20189, News item published in "The Times of India" Authored by Shri Vishwa Mohan titled "NCAP with multiple timelines to clean air in 102 cities to be released around August 15" requiring constituted Air Quality Monitoring Committees in all States/UTs to prepare and execute action plans for control of air pollution in 122 nonattainment cities (where air quality is normally beyond the prescribed norms).
(III) The issue of solid waste management has been dealt with by this Tribunal in OA 606/2018 in pursuance of directions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Writ Petition No. 888/1996, Almitra H. Patel & Anr. v. Union of India & Ors. In the said matter, the Chief Secretaries of all States/UTs were required to remain present before this Tribunal10 and after interaction with them, separate 67 orders for all States/UTs referring to the individual issues in such States/UTs,11 particularly issue of legacy waste dump sites and remediation of current waste on scientific basis were dealt with and the Chief Secretaries were directed to monitor compliance every month by creating a monitoring cell, directly under them, in terms of directions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court and the District Magistrates monitoring such compliances every fortnight. It has been found that there are more than 3000 dump sites where legacy waste has accumulated over the years but the remedial action has not been taken except at very few places. This is resulting in water and air pollution and soil degradation on continuous basis, to the detriment of the environment and the public health. The statutory timelines have come to an end. Reference is made in this regard also to order dated 29.01.2021 in OA No. 519/2019, In re: News item published in "The Times of India" Authored by Jasjeev Gandhiok & Paras Singh Titled "Below mountains of trash lie poison lakes" and order dated 28.02.2020 in OA No. 606/2018, Compliance of Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. It was directed, vide order dated 10.01.2020, that compensation will be payable for failure to comply with the requirement of taking steps mentioned in Rule 22 of the SWM Rules, 2016 at scales mentioned therein, depending on the size of local bodies, from 01.04.2020 till compliance. Compensation was also directed to be recovered at the laid down scale for delay in commencing and completing the legacy waste remediation measures. (IV) With regard to bio-medical waste, the matter has been dealt with in OA 710/2017, Shailesh Singh, v. Sheela Hospital & Trauma Centre, Shahjahanpur & Ors. 12, with regard to hazardous waste, matter has been dealt with in OA 804/2017, Rajiv Narayan v. Union of India & Ors. 13, with regard to e-waste, matter has been dealt with in OA 512/2017, Shailesh Singh v. State of UP14, with regard to plastic waste, matter has been dealt with in EA 13/2019 in OA 247/2017, Central Pollution Control Board v. State of Andaman & Nicobar & Ors.15 for laying down liability to pay compensation for non-compliance.
17. As earlier observed, damage to environment is directly linked to the public health and neglecting compliance of environmental norms results in deaths and injuries. Violation of environmental norms needs to be taken as seriously as preventing crimes of homicides and assaults. It is more serious as the victims may be 68 wide spread and unidentified. The consequences may even affect future generations. The compliance status is directly linked to effectiveness of monitoring which requires that the key office bearers of statutory regulators and oversight bodies are qualified, competent and reputed and exclusively dedicated to such work, instead of devoting part time, while simultaneously holding other positions. In this regard, the Tribunal has made observations vide order dated 02.02.2021 in OA 231/2014, Doaba Paryavaran Samiti v. State of U.P & Ors, finding that the Member Secretary of the PCB in UP was only devoting part-time, while holding several other positions. Adequate and well-equipped laboratories and effective machinery for implementation of "Polluter Pays" principle for assessment and collection of compensation is another important aspect of environmental governance.
21. Further, there is need to study the extent of environmental loss and the contributors to the same. Though environment is priceless, normative parameters are now available to determine the compensation for the loss caused for failure to observe laid down rules and regulations such as not clearing legacy waste as per Solid Waste Management Rules, causing air/water pollution. Environment is wealth which needs protection from being plundered by law violators, for their monetary interests, by adequate monitoring and stringent vigilance. Its scientific management, including enforcement of polluter pays principle, requires study of level of pollution and contributors thereto and cost of restoration to be recovered by efficient machinery. Such steps will advance the environmental rule of law and lead to sustainable development."
31. Learned counsel for the applicant has argued that the actual generation has been concealed by the R-4 and the State Pollution Control Board and there is a huge gap between the generation and capacity to treat and that the incinerator cannot continuously run for more than 2-3 hours and it needs rest thus the incinerator of R-4 the disposal facility has no capacity to dispose of the Bio Medical Waste in ratio to generation. In response to the question raised above, the learned counsel for the State Pollution Control Board has submitted that the facility of R-4 has a capacity to treat the waste generated and there is no report that there is any gap between the 69 generation and capacity to treat. It is further submitted that R-4 has submitted an application for extension of capacity to increase it which can be considered by the State Pollution Control Board in due course of time. A question was raised before the applicant to suggest the alternate remedy in case the generation is increased, and in reply thereof, the applicant had suggested the Common Bio Medical Waste Facility of R-4 or R-5 and for which the learned counsel for the State Pollution Control Board has submitted that it is for the SPCB to decide with regard to the generation, capacity and the distance of the project proponent. Affidavit and compliance report submitted by the State Pollution Control Board clearly shows that the MSW/BMW generated from Udaipur City is door to door collected through auto tippers by Municipal Corporation and send to transfer stations and there are separate bins for wet, dry and household bio-medical waste. At transfer station, the dry and wet waste are segregated and Bio-medical waste is stood separately at the garbage transfer point from where the dedicated vehicle of CBWTDF collected it on regular basis for further disposal as per norms of BMWM Rules, 2016. To prevent the illegal dumping of bio medical waste at Balicha site, the Municipal Corporation has issued work order for fencing work all around the dumping site and permanent gate at entry to any kind of unauthorized dumping. The affidavit and Action Taken Report submitted by the Municipal Corporation shows that there is a proper collection and segregation and disposal in accordance with the provisions contained in the rules and no violation has been reported to the Municipal Corporation. It is further submitted that, it is for the State Pollution Control Board to consider the extension of increasing capacity of disposal or in case of increase of generation to have an alternate arrangement, but at present the Bio Medical Waste is properly collected and sent to centre of R-4, where it is disposed of in accordance with law.
32. In view of the above facts, and the affidavit submitted by the Pollution Control Board, we are of the view that Bio Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016 are strictly complied with and nothing has been reported by the State Pollution Control Board and Municipal Corporation about the violation 70 of the rules. So far as alternate arrangement for disposal of Bio Medical Waste generated in Udaipur, Dongarpur, Chitorgarh and other areas are concerned, it is for the State Pollution Control Board to consider at relevant point of time when required.
33. In view of the above facts, the allegations as leveled by the applicant are not tenable and baseless. However, for proper disposal of Bio Medical Waste, we direct as follows:
(i) The respondents are directed to follow the guidelines issued by the Central Pollution Control Board which was communicated vide order dated 21.07.2020 and strict action should be initiated for non-
compliance of the guidelines with reference to disposal of materials collected, used and thrown in COVID-19.
(ii) The Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board is directed to have a strict vigil to ensure the compliance of the Bio-Medical Waste Rules and in case it is found that there is a violation of the rules, strict action should be initiated including calculation of environmental compensation and its recovery according to law.
34. With the above observations, the Original Application is finally disposed of.
Sheo Kumar Singh, JM Dr. Arun Kumar Verma, EM 11h May, 2022 O.A. No.74/2021(CZ) PU 71