Outcry Over Medical Waste Dump on Farm

Outcry Over Medical Waste Dump on Farm

COIMBATORE:The public staged protests outside a company after it was found to be segregating medical waste on agricultural land at Iyampathi near KG Chavadi, near here, on Thursday afternoon.

Sources said the residents of Iyampathi had noticed that lorries were unloading medical waste there during the last two days.

On Thursday afternoon, people thronged the place and demanded action against the company. On being informed of the matter, Madukkarai Thasildhar D Dhanabal, along with the Madukkarai police, rushed to the spot and started investigations.

The land, 50 cents in extent, is owned by one Biju Joseph, who also owns the company. People found the hospital waste being segregated on a part of the agricultural land. However, Biju Thomas does not have a licence for it.

After segregation it, Biju Thomas hands over the waste to the Technotherm unit at Chettipalayam. Only Technotherm is authorised to collect and segregate medical waste.

Sources said as much two tonnes of medical waste - gloves, syringes, needles, dress materials of patients, etc - was found dumped on the land.

Tahsildar Dhanabal said the landowner had been asked to remove the entire medical waste from there as he did not have the licence to collect medical waste and was doing it in violating rules.

The Tahsildar has also recommended to the Madukkarai police to register a case against Biju Joseph.

In another incident, villagers in Kaniyur seized a mini-auto which was carrying poultry waste to Namakkal from Kerala. They stopped the vehicle as a foul smell was emanating from it.

The vehicle owner, who did not have the documents to transport the waste, said the poultry waste was being taken to Namakkal to make dog feed.

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