Kerala Acts to Clear Medical Waste Dumped in Tirunelveli After NGT Mandate
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Chennai, Dec 22 (NationPress) In response to a firm mandate from the southern bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the Vijayan government has mobilized a team to Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu, to collect medical waste that was allegedly disposed of by middlemen associated with hospitals in Kerala.
The NGT has instructed the Kerala government to clear the waste by December 23.
Leading the operation, a team from Kerala, under the guidance of Assistant Collector Albert, has commenced the cleanup.
To facilitate the removal, eight trucks have been dispatched to transport the waste back to Kerala. The incident of medical waste disposal in Tirunelveli has incited significant public outrage in Tamil Nadu, especially in regions such as Nadukallur, Kodaganallur, Kondanagaram, and Suthamalli, where the waste was found.
Local authorities have received numerous complaints, leading to the registration of six cases with the Suthamalli police. Two individuals from Tirunelveli, including a lorry owner and a supervisor from a private waste management firm in Kerala, have been apprehended for their alleged roles in the illegal transportation and dumping of this waste.
Tirunelveli District Collector Karthikeyan raised concerns about the assertions made by the Kerala inspection team, which claimed that the waste was non-hazardous.
He questioned the rationale behind hiring middlemen and the expenditure of considerable sums if the waste was indeed harmless.
Karthikeyan insisted on the necessity of stringent action against those involved to avert similar occurrences in the future.
Significant amounts of biomedical, plastic, and food waste from the Thiruvananthapuram Regional Cancer Centre and a private hospital in Kerala were discovered discarded in Kodaganallur and Palavoor villages of Tirunelveli.
This waste contained hazardous items such as used syringes, PPE kits, and medical records bearing sensitive personal information, which raises grave concerns regarding health, environmental safety, and data privacy.
Residents reported that the dumping, frequently occurring at night, has contaminated local water supplies, endangered livestock, and resulted in health complications.
Despite numerous complaints from landowners, the matter remains unaddressed.
Police suspect that trucks believed to be transporting waste to a nearby paper mill are implicated in the illegal disposal activities.
C.M. Kumaraswamy, a social activist, informed IANS, "Although the idea of installing CCTV cameras at strategic points to monitor and identify vehicles responsible for dumping medical waste has been proposed by environmentalists and social activists, no significant action has been taken." He emphasized the necessity of such measures to curb illegal waste disposal.
