BENGALURU: As the coronavirus cases are on the rise, the worry over handling the garbage menace has also mounted. More so when there is lack of coordination between two prime agencies -- Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). Interestingly, the two agencies are yet to ascertain the quantity of biomedical waste and how to manage it.
KSPCB officials said the management of biomedical waste has been left to urban local bodies (ULBs) -- BBMP in case of Bengaluru.“We cannot go around as pollution control is not listed as an essential service. And we don’t have to go as the ULBs have been told what to do. They tell us that everything is fine on ground,” said a KSPCB district health officer.
When TNIE asked how much biomedical waste is generated from COVID-19 cases, an official said: “If one quarantine home houses 50-100 cases, then around 2-3 kg of biomedical waste will be generated.”
But BBMP officials said it is an underestimated figure and it will be around 20-25 kg. KSPCB Member Secretary Basavaraj Patil said: “The ULBs have been told to follow the Central Pollution Control Board guidelines and ensure that biomedical waste generated from areas where positive cases are reported and from primary and secondary contacts is treated separately.
We are monitoring and the BBMP and healthcare facilities are doing their job.” However, BBMP officials admitted that they were not disposing of the biomedical waste of COVID-19 patients separately. “At present, the waste generated from primary and secondary contacts is being handled as biomedical and is disposed of with all other biomedical waste. Waste generated from hospitals is managed by hospitals and it is under the control of KSPCB. BBMP has no control over it,” said a BBMP official.
Randeep D, BBMP Special Commissioner, solid waste management, agreed that so far, the quantity of biomedical waste is not collated. But the exercise is being done, he said. The Palike has started to collate the data now. They have collected 74 kg of biomedical waste from 126 people who have been quarantined.