VASCO: The Mormugao Municipal Council has decided to start a crackdown on reckless dumping of biomedical waste in public places.
The decision was taken as hazardous biomedical waste was found dumped in a bin meant only for garbage at Vaddem, Vasco, on Thursday morning.
According to the information, MMC presently does not have any foolproof regulatory mechanisms to ensure that the biomedical waste gets disposed as per the rules and regulations laid down by the Health Department.
In order to ensure that such hazardous waste does not get mixed up with domestic garbage at roadside bins, MMC has made separate provisions to lift and dispose such hazardous medical waste. However, all the hospitals and clinics are not cooperating with MMC and are violating guidelines and this was proved after the municipal staff found biomedical waste dumped in a bin meant only for garbage.
“We were loading garbage in the compactor and suddenly one of the plastic bins that were placed opposite Hotel Sanman in Vaddem Vasco broke and biomedical waste started spilling on the road including placenta,” said Supervisor, Rajesh K.
CO, Melvyn Vaz lodged a formal complaint before Vasco police against some unknown persons. “The moment the incident was reported to me, I made a formal complaint to Vasco Police, requesting them to investigate into the matter, he said.
CO” Besides this, we have now decided to crack down on hospitals and clinics in our jurisdiction to ensure that such incidents are not reported in future,” he told.
The aggrieved municipal staff summoned the MMC officials as well as the local ward councillor at the site to take up the matter and if required, to lodge formal police complaint against people responsible for dumping medical waste in bins. “The issue is very serious, as some people have dumped hazardous medical waste in garbage bins, which is something that cannot be tolerated at all. I will take up the issue before the Council members and the Chief Officer,” said Councillor Sudesh Kolgaonkar.
