HC seeks report on medical waste dumping in Pithoragarh

Dehradun: Uttarakhand high court on Wednesday, hearing a PIL against the alleged dumping of medical waste from hospitals in the open in Pithoragarh district, including into rivers, drains, pits and municipal garbage bins, directed the state govt to apprise it of the situation within four weeks.Counsel for the petitioner submitted that hospital waste was being disposed of in municipal garbage bins, posing a serious threat to human health, animals and the environment, and violating biomedical waste management rules.A division bench comprising Chief Justice Manoj Kumar Gupta and Justice Subhash Upadhyay asked the state to file a report on the prevailing situation within four weeks.The PIL, filed by Pithoragarh resident Dr Rajesh Pandey, stated that the district lacks facilities for the proper disposal of biomedical waste. As a result, waste generated by govt and private hospitals, as well as pathology laboratories, is being “indiscriminately” dumped in the open, increasing the risk of disease outbreaks.The petition also stated that animals were consuming such waste, affecting their health. It also flagged that around 20 pathology laboratories in the district are operating “without basic registration” with the State Pollution Control Board.The chief medical officer of Pithoragarh acknowledged that the district “lacks adequate disposal mechanisms”, leading to difficulties in waste management and resulting in haphazard disposal by healthcare facilities.The petitioner has urged the court to direct the state to establish a common biomedical waste treatment facility in the district, particularly given Pithoragarh’s status as a border district.