Down To Earth brings you the top environmental cases heard in Supreme Court, high courts & National Green Tribunal
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) January 19, 2024 directed Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu municipal corporation to ensure that biomedical waste is disposed of in accordance with the rules and there aren’t any violation of environmental rules.
In Jhunjhunu, the process has been initiated and agreement signed between the parties for the development of the common biomedical waste treatment facility (CBWT) site. The court directed that the matter be expedited soon.
The Rajasthan Pollution Control Board has been directed to periodically monitor the compliance of the Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2016 in the state and in case of any violation, "necessary legal action in addition to imposition of environmental compensation must be initiated according to rules,” the NGT order noted.
By means of the letter petition, the applicant Jan Jagrukta Sewa Sansthan Rajasthan, Sikar had raised the grievance of non-compliance of Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2016 in the districts Churu, Jhunjhunu, Sikar and Neem Ka Thana by the private hospitals and medical waste is reported to be thrown into the municipal waste, causing the spread of serious disease adversely affecting human health.
The report filed by the joint committee recommended that a committee for management of biomedical waste shall be constituted at all primary health centres / community health centres / district hospitals and all private healthcare facilities and details of the same shall be shared with the chief medical health officer (CMHO) and Rajasthan Pollution Control Board.
The BMW committee so formed shall submit any issues related to treatment, transportation and collection of biomedical waste from the CBWTF Instromedix India Private Ltd to the concerned CMHO and RSPCB. It should be ensured that all healthcare facilities shall follow the collection, segregation of BMW as per provisions envisaged under BMW Rules 2016 and its subsequent amendments, the joint committee report said.
The central bench of NGT said January 19 that the matter involving encroachment of more than 100 hectares of forest land in Raghogarh tehsil, Guna district, Madhya Pradesh is a serious one and directed the constitution of a high level committee to look into the matter.
The committee has been entrusted to identify the area, demarcate it, remove the encroachment from the forest land and hand over the possession of the area to the forest department. In turn, the forest department should “immediately take measures of protection of land by fixing the pillars and by use of barbed wire and by deep plantation in the area”.
The Eastern Bench of NGT directed a two-member committee to look into the allegations of violation of environmental norms by Kamanda Steel Plant, Sambalpur district, Odisha.
The committee shall inspect the site in question and submit its report within four weeks on affidavit with regard to the allegations made, said the NGT and listed the next hearing of the case to March 11, 2024.
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