Balasore: The state health department’s ambitious biomedical waste treatment project set up up at Balasore district headquarters hospital to treat toxic waste in order to prevent any probable spread of infection has gone for a toss.
Non-biodegradable substances which are used by the doctors during treatment of patients need to be sensitively managed as the probable chances of spread of infection from these wastes is higher. The project was entrusted to a private agency, a source said.
Also read: ‘Odisha generates 14,197 kg biomedical waste everyday’
It has been learnt that, the agency is being paid over Rs 2,50,000 every month, for treatment of biomedical hazardous wastes. The agency allegedly takes the waste materials to the Budhabalanga riverside near Kasamila area in the vicinity of Balasore town and dumps it there.
Local residents and intelligentsia apprehend that it could give rise to serious air-borne and water-borne diseases in this region. Notably, commuters from Baliapal, Bhograi and Jaleswar blocks in Balasore district pass through this road every day.
On the other hand, liquid waste often mingle with the Budhabalanga river during rainy season, thereby suffocating aquatic animals.
With a sharp rise in coronavirus cases in Balasore, the district administration paying a deaf ear to such a crucial issue could prove to be disastrous for the town’s residents and environment.
“Neglect of the district administration is like leaving local denizens to die, where even touching the biomedical hazardous wastes is risky”, a local legal practitioner Manoj Kumar Nayak fumed.
On being contacted, chief district medical officer (CDMO) Dr Dulalsen Jagadev said, “I have no such information. However, actions will be taken after conducting a thorough investigation on allegation”.
PNN