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Journalism of Courage
The Pune Municipal Corporation PMC, while admitting to its shortcomings, has trained guns on the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board MPCB for not sharing the responsibility for the accident that killed seven at the biomedical waste disposal plant in Kailash crematorium on September 11.
The MPCB is the licence-issuing authority to the contractor who has been arrested for disposing of aerosol cans illegally on the crematorium premises.
The PMC would take action against its staff, he said, adding the civic administration would also put on record its views on the failure of MPCB to keep a check on the illegal activity carried out by the contractor.
The MPCB, for its part, says it cannot be held responsible. Regional officer of MPCB P K Mirashe said, 8220;The incident took place outside the incinerator and the board officials cannot be held accountable for negligence in the duty as is being alleged by the PMC.8221;
He conceded that there had been illegal activity on the plant premises by the contractor and the board officers visiting the plant every month were unaware of it; this he attributed to lack of information from the PMC.
Asked why the plant was shut down, Mirashe said the contractor was using his employees for illegal activities and had appointed a sub-contractor without taking the approval of MPCB.
8220;A police complaint has been filed against the contractor and PMC officials for the incident,8221; he said, adding the board would have initiated action against its officer if the incident had taken place in the plant.
Meanwhile, the PMC, with the concurrence of MPCB, has appointed Passco Environment Solutions Limited on a temporary basis for the disposal of biomedical waste at plants in Talegaon and Satara. It has also invited parties to restart the incinerator at the Kailash crematorium.
8220;We had asked the PMC in September to appoint a new agency within two months for the disposal of biomedical waste in the city. We will assess the progress and based on that we will decide whether to extend the two-month deadline,8221; Mirashe said.
The MPCB, as per a Supreme Court directive, will appoint an agency to monitor biomedical-waste-generating units in the state.
