CUTTACK: The Mahanadi riverbank adjacent to the market complex near Jagatpur Golei has turned into a dumping yard for expired drugs and medicines.Dumping of biomedical waste continues unabated at the riverbank on the outskirts of the city as the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) prefers to turn a blind eye to it.
Huge quantities of expired drugs including cartons of cough syrups whose expiry dates had lapsed since June 2020, are lying scattered on the riverbank. The expired drugs are suspected to have been dumped by some local medicine manufacturers or distributers violating the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order.
“This is not for the first time expired drugs of different compositions are being openly disposed of on the riverbank regularly. We have been bringing it to the notice of CMC, but no step is being taken even to identify the violators, leave aside taking action against them,” said locals. Apart from the release of toxic pollutants into the water and air, the unsafe disposal of expired medicines is posing a big threat to nearby slum children and domestic animals.
“There is a slum near the dumping site where domestic animals including cattle and goats graze. If slum children or domestic animals consume expired drugs, then it will be hazardous for them. This has become a recurring issue, it is high time authorities take action,” said a city-based health expert adding that the expired medicines should be disposed of safely as per the norm of disposal of biomedical waste.
“If stringent action is initiated against those who are dumping expired medicines then they will not indulge in such illegal act,” said local residents. However, efforts to get a response on the matter from CMC commissioner Nikhil Pavan Kalyan proved futile.