*Funds remain un-utilized as H&ME fails to identify land
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Dec 24: In what could be termed as height of non-seriousness, the Health and Medical Education Department is sleeping over the recommendations made twice by Committee on Environment of State Legislative Assembly regarding establishment of first-ever Common Bio-Medical Waste Treatment Facility to ensure scientific disposal of waste being generated in the health institutions. Moreover, the department has failed to fix the responsibility for non-installation of such a facility despite making assurances in unambiguous terms to the panel in this regard.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that there is no Common Bio-Medical Waste Treatment Facility in the Government sector in Jammu and Kashmir although sharp rise is being witnessed in generation of bio-medical waste due to opening of more health institutions. At present, some quantity of bio-medical waste is being disposed of by two private players—one each at Pathankote and Lassipora (Kashmir) after charging money from the Health and Medical Education Department.
Keeping in view the dire need of such a facility in the Government sector, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare during the financial year 2013-14 cleared a proposal for establishment of one each Common Bio-Medical Waste Treatment Facility in Kashmir and Jammu and subsequently funds to the tune of Rs 7 crore were released under the National Health Mission (NHM) scheme.
Thereafter, the Health and Medical Education Department through Directorate of Health Services of Kashmir/Jammu identified land at Bajalta and Kanachak in Jammu and Lasjan, Rakhi-a-Arth, Sheikhpora and Zewan in Kashmir valley but the facility could not be establishment due to non-clearance of these sites by the State Pollution Control Board.
“The delay in establishment of Common Bio-Medical Waste Treatment Facility was noted with serious concern by the Committee on Environment of Legislative Assembly for 2014-15 with the directions for expediting the process of setting up of plants to ensure utilization of the funds made available by the Central Government”, sources said.
However, the dilly-dallying approach continued on the part of Directorates of Health Services and the directions of the Committee on Environment for 2014-15 remained unimplemented. “The issue of establishment of Common Bio-Medical Waste Treatment Facility was also debated by the Committee on Environment for 2015-16 but it came to know that no headway was made by the Health and Medical Education Department even after the recommendations of predecessor committee”, sources said.
While expressing displeasure over the failure of the concerned agencies, the Committee on Environment for 2015-16 observed that had seriousness been shown by the Health and Medical Education Department the facility would have come up and helped in betterment disposal of the bio-medical waste that too without putting any financial burden on the State exchequer, which is still presently coughing up lakhs of rupees for availing the facility of private players.
It was also noted by the Committee on Environment for 2015-16 that keeping in view the statement made by the Chairman of Pollution Control Board that waste can be shifted up to 150 kilometers within the time period of 4 fours to the treatment site there should not have been much difficult in identification of proper sites.
Accordingly, the Committee in its report tabled on the floor of State Legislature on June 24, 2016 fixed time-line of one month for finalization of issue after fulfilling all the requisite formalities with the Pollution Control Board, which was also directed to expedite the process of issuance of No-Objection Certificates for the identified sites. Moreover, the Committee had explicitly told the Commissioner/Secretary, Health and Medical Education Department to fix the responsibility for non-installation of the facility in the State despite availability of sufficient funds.
Though more than six months have lapsed since the tabling of report on the floor of the Legislature, neither the Health and Medical Education Department could sort out the issue regarding NOCs with the Pollution Control Board or identify the new sites nor it has fixed the responsibility for inordinate delay in establishment of facility, sources regretted, adding “this is notwithstanding the fact that Commissioner/Secretary, Health and Medical Education Department had admitted before the Committee on Environment for 2015-16 that situation has in fact aggravated in the State in the absence of Common Bio-Medical Waste Treatment Facility”.
Moreover, he had assured the Committee that he would personally follow-up the matter and put in best efforts to take the process to its logical end, sources said, adding “the intensity of non-seriousness on the vital subject can be gauged from the fact that even no official meeting has been convened to fast-track the process for identification of new sites for setting up of Common Bio-Medical Waste Treatment Facility”.
When contacted, a senior officer of the Health Department confirmed that no site could be finalized for establishment of facility till date and said, “it is difficult to specify any timeframe for completion of this exercise”.
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel