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NT Bureau
Chennai, May 16:
 

        The government of Tamilnadu has set up a committee under the chairmanship of State Health Secretary to monitor the implementation of the bio-medical waste management in the State, Neelakanthan, director, Environment, has said.

        He was speaking at a three-day workshop on waste management organised by Toxics Link, a New Delhi- based

        NGO. The workshop commenced in Chennai yesterday.

        Neelakanthan said the committee was delibera-ting the ways and means to implement bio-medical waste management policy. As many as 2,479 private and 317 government hospitals in the State were covered by 'The Bio-Medical Waste (Manage-ment and Handling) Rules, 1998'.

        He also said the Tamilnadu Pollution Control Board had so far authorised 11 locations for disposal of the bio-medical waste and over seven of them were operational already and rest of them would be operational soon.

        The director said the cost for handling bio-medical waste could be internalised. The cost of handling biomedical waste per bed was nominal he added. He stressed on segregation of waste at the home level itself so that it could be easy for the authorities to handle the waste at the fill yards. He said awareness about environmental issues was being created at schools as that it would prove helpful in protecting the environment.

        Santosh Sinha, associate director of Toxics Link, speaking on the occasion, said the workshop aimed at discussing the issues concerned with the aspect of waste management and also exploring the problems and prospects of managing biomedical, municipal and electronic waste.