EC has waste care plan in place at polling stations in Punjab

CHANDIGARH: Besides ensuring smooth conduct of the state assembly elections, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has another daunting task at hand – collection of Covid-19 waste from polling booths and its scientific disposal. For the safety of the voters and staff on duty, the commission will be providing masks, sanitisers, gloves, PPE kits and protective equipment at all the 24,740 polling stations — 7,756 in urban and 16,984 in rural areas – across Punjab.

With the state having 2,14,99,804 registered electors, each polling booth is likely to see a huge accumulation of waste. As the waste generated might be infected with the virus, it can be disastrous if not dealt with properly.

To clear the waste within an hour from each booth, the EC has rolled out a detailed plan. Route plans for the transportation of biomedical waste from polling booths to collection centres have been finalised by the returning officers in consultation with the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) and health department. The waste from collection centres will be lifted by the operators of five common biomedical waste facilities— one each in Mohali, Ludhiana, Muktsar, Pathankot, and Amritsar.

One Asha worker will be deployed at each polling booth for ensuring that waste is lifted while district nodal officers will have to ensure that it is disposed of as per the laid down Bio-medical Waste Management Rules, 2016.

Chief election officer, Punjab,

Karuna Raju

said, “Everything is in place to ensure that waste generated at the polling stations is collected and disposed of properly.” PPCB member secretary

Krunesh Garg

said a team of officers will be monitoring collection, transportation and disposal of waste.


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