Puducherry was ranked alongside the top performing States in an assessment of biomedical waste management efficacy conducted by the Central Pollution Control Board.
Puducherry scored 21 out of a total of 24 points to rank along with other top performing States such as Delhi, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh, according to a press note from the Puducherry Pollution Control Committee (PPCC).
The Union Territory fared better than States such as Bihar and Punjab (20), Tamil Nadu (19), Kerala (18) and Maharashtra (17).
According to the PPCC, the CPCB carried out the evaluation on the directions of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to examine the comparative track record of the 28 States/Union Territories in terms of implementation of the provisions of the Bio-medical (Management & Handling) Rules, 2016.
The CPCB assessed the effectiveness of the States in implementing BMWM rules on a set of key performance indicators based on a quantifiable score. The survey gave equal weightage to each performance indicator with a score of two points given for initiatives taken for implementation, one for under progress action points and nil for non-implemented action points.
Seven States not having common facilities were excluded for relative evaluation.
A higher score against a State would only indicate where the State stands despite needing more action on the ground for effective implementation of the BMWM Rules. COVID-19 waste management was also taken as one of the criteria. On this front, the PPCC ensures proper collection, transport and disposal of COVID-19 waste in a common bio-medical waste treatment facility through bar coding, GPS and updating the data in the CPCB app regularly, the press note said.
