The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Government hospitals in Bangalore get a breather

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Friday, Jul 03, 2009
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Government hospitals in Bangalore get a breather

Staff Reporter

Closure order to be kept in abeyance till February 13

It will take seven months to set up bio-medical waste plants
Government files affidavit saying work will be given to BWSSB

BANGALORE: The nine government hospitals in Bangalore facing closure threat for not complying with orders for installing bio-medical waste treatment plant got a breather on Thursday when the Lok Adalat directed the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) to keep in abeyance the closure order till February 13 next year.

A Lok Adalat Bench, comprising Justice K.L. Manjunath and member Yellappa Reddy, passed the order after the Government filed an affidavit stating that it had decided to hand over to the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) work on constructing bio-medical and effluent treatment plants (ETP) in the nine hospitals in Bangalore.

The affidavit said that the BWSSB needed seven months to commission the ETPs in Victoria, Bowring, Ghousia, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases, Jayanagar General and four other hospitals.

The Bench warned the Government that it would have to close down the hospitals in case the treatment plants were not completed by February. It asked the KSPCB to keep in abeyance the closure orders it had passed and adjourned further hearing.

The Lok Adalat took the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to task for failing to take effective steps to tackle the problem of solid waste in Bangalore and asked the BBMP to file a report by two weeks.

Earlier, the KSPCB said though it had repeatedly sent notices to the BBMP, solid waste was not being disposed of scientifically and garbage was being dumped on the outskirts of the city.

It said though the city was producing 3,000 tonnes of solid waste, only 1,200 tonnes was being treated and the rest dumped or burnt.

The Lok Adalat expressed apprehension at reports of lead pollution in and around Bangalore and asked the KSPCB to take steps to contain it. It also asked the board to file a report on what steps it had taken to prevent lead poisoning.

It said there were reports that even tender coconut was not immune from lead poisoning.It asked the board to give it a list of industries discharging lead.The Lok Adalat asked the State to examine whether water supply to government hospitals could be classified under domestic category. As of now, the hospitals are paying water bills under non-domestic category. The Bench adjourned the case relating to solid waste and lead poisoning to July 16.

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