“They have failed to comply with the norms. Once again, we are sending notices to these hospitals,” said Swami Nath, Chief Environment Officer of the Pollution Board.
The CSMMU generates around one tonne of the waste daily, but its incinerator is very small. Further, the temperature and air pollution control fail to match the standard. “In reply to a recent notice, they had sent a proposal for setting up a 50-kg per hour incinerator. We are looking into it,” Nath said.
Vice-Chancellor of the hospital, Dr Saroj Churamani, on the other hand, said: “Nothing can be done in a day. We are working towards it. At present, we are sending most of our bio-medical waste to the Lucknow Municipal Corporation plant for disposal. We have also sent a proposal to set up our own BMW treatment plant.”
But the civic body’s plant in Gomti Nagar, which burns the waste of numerous other hospitals too does not conform to pollution control norms. In fact, it has been functioning for a decade without necessary authorisation, said sources at the Board.
As for the SGPGI, during an inspection in July, the Board had found that the hospitals incinerator was not working properly. Even the scrubber, which helps in dissolving poisonous gases emitted during the disposal of the waste, was not effective. The hospital did not maintain regular record of the operation of the incinerator and its two plastic cutting machines were not working.
Dr T N Dhole, head of microbiology department of the SGPGI, however, said: “We are complying with the norms and maintaining proper record too. Everything is in proper working order.”