PANJIM: The Mhadei water dispute tussle between Goa and Karnataka has taken an ugly turn, with the neighbouring State refusing to treat biomedical waste from Goa.
Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) has withdrawn permission granted to the Hubballi-Dharwad Common Biomedical Waste Treatment Facility (CBMWTF) for treatment of biomedical waste from Goa.
“The Karnataka pollution board has now withdrawn the permission given to the plant to treat the biomedical waste from Goa. This is a major setback,” a senior official confirmed.
He added “It is nothing but revenge from Karnataka. It is also kind of pressure tactic from them, after they realised that all their attempts to resolve the (Mhadei) matter out of court have failed.”
Goa and Karnataka are currently fighting over the Mhadei water sharing issue before the Mhadei Water Dispute Tribunal (MWDT).
In December last year KSPCB had permitted the Hubbali-Dharwad CBMWTF to receive biomedical waste from Goa and dispose of the same in the common biomedical waste treatment facility. Goa generates over 180 tonnes of biomedical waste every month and is now left with no facility to treat it.
The High Level Task Force Committee of the Department of Science and Technology, during its meeting held on Tuesday, raised serious concerns over the issue. It has been decided to constitute a Biomedical Waste Committee headed by Chief Secretary R K Srivastav to speed up work of setting up of CBMWTF for the State, which is proposed to come up at Kundaim Industrial Estate.
The Hubbali-Dharwad CBMWTF had approached the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB), last year, to operate a CBMWTF in Goa but as the board cannot permit them to operate in the State, they were asked to get permission from KSPCB to allow them to treat biomedical waste generated in Goa at Karnataka.
“It was a proposal from Karnataka and was a major relief. The State is yet to set up its own CBMWTF and the treatment facility at Goa Medical College is non-operational,” an official said adding, “the Hubbali-Dharwad facility operator has expressed willingness to repair the facility at GMC and treat the waste there”.
Before the offer from the Hubbali-Dharwad CBMWTF, biomedical waste was treated separately by each healthcare facility, except in Panjim where the city corporation would collect and treat it at GMC. GSPCB had observed that health care facilities had failed to treat waste according to environmental norms.
As per the Goa Biomedical Waste Rules, there has to be one such facility for every 10,000 hospital beds. Goa has around 5,200 hospital beds and biomedical waste has to be treated scientifically within 48 hours.
