Four more govt hospitals face NGT ire, fined ₹50,000 each

THE COURT ASKED THESE HOSPITALS TO COLLECT THEIR WASTE IN A SEGREGATED FORM AND ENSURE ITS DISPOSAL AT THE SITES IDENTIFIED FOR THE PURPOSE IN ACCORDANCE WITH SOLID WASTE RULES

The National Green Tribunal on Monday (NGT) fined four government hospitals in Delhi ₹50,000 each for mismanagement of biomedical waste and laxity in complying with solid waste management rules.

A bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar imposed the environment compensation on Lady Hardinge Medical College, Indira Gandhi ESI, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia and Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan hospitals.

The green court asked these hospitals to collect their waste in a segregated form and ensure its disposal at the sites identified for the purpose in accordance with Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. It fixed the matter for hearing on September 4.

This move comes days after similar fines were imposed on 17 city hotels and nine other hospitals. On Friday, the green court had announced fines of ₹2 lakh on Shalimar Bagh-based Fortis Hospital, ₹1.5 lakh each on Patparganj-based Max Super Speciality Hospital and Dharamshila Hospital & Research Centre and ₹75,000 each on Hedgewar Arogya Sansthan, Jag Pravesh Chandra Hospital, Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya, Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital, Swami Dayanand Hospital and Safdarjung Hospital.

The green court directed the medical superintendents of the government hospitals to take strict action against erring officials responsible for violating environmental laws.

The orders came while hearing a petition by Almitra H Patel, who had sought directions on waste management in hospitals, hotels, colleges, malls, railway stations and bus terminals.

The action comes after an interim report submitted by a committee set up by it to recommended action against defaulting bodies for improper management and treatment of sewage and lack of mechanism to recycle waste.

The court had directed the committee to inspect all five-star hotels, hospitals that have more than 200 beds, cooperative group housing societies with over 300 flats, markets, shopping malls with a built-up area of over 50,000 square metres and colleges having hostel accommodating more than 500 students in Delhi.