A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has flagged gaps in the management of solid waste as well as special waste, including, bio-medical and e-waste, in urban bodies in the district.
The Report of the CAG on Waste Management in Urban Local Bodies was tabled in the Assembly last week after test-checking 22 civic bodies in the State including Alappuzha, Kayamkulam and Mavelikara municipalities. The CAG rapped the Government Medical College, Alappuzha for lapses in the management of biomedical waste.
It noted that Alappuzha and Kayamkulam municipalities had disposed of mixed waste as rejects during 2020-21 through Clean Kerala Company to Kerala Enviro Infrastructure for landfilling in violation of Solid Waste Management Rules 2016. Unsegregated mixed waste continued to be dumped at dumpsites in Kayamkulam and Mavelikara, the report said.
The audit found that biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste was being dumped in public places in Alappuzha and on roadsides and waterbodies in Kayamkulam and Mavelikara. The report revealed that waste from restaurants in Kayamkulam and Mavelikara was collected by unauthorised agencies and transferred to pig farms, while no system was in place for the collection and disposal of poultry waste in all three municipalities.
In Alappuzha, several Thumboormuzhi units were not functional. In Kayamkulam and Mavelikara, no action was seen taken to collect bio-medical waste generated from households. The audit said that instances of burning mixed waste had been noticed at Kayamkulam Mini Civil Station and Amabalapuzha Taluk Office. Instances of open burning of plastic waste were noticed in Alappuzha and Mavelikara.
During inspections at scrap dealer shops in Kayamkulam and Mavelikkara, the auditors found that e-waste requiring careful handling such as computer monitors, television sets and refrigerators lay scattered in the open without any environmental or health safeguards.
The report noted that surveillance cameras purchased by Kayamkulam municipality (five cameras for ₹ five lakh) and Alappuzha municipality (11 cameras for ₹ five lakh) during 2018-19 for spotting and imposing penalties for littering in public places were not working due to non-provision of electric connection/supply. The CAG called to fix the responsibility on erring officials.
The Kayamkulam municipality, according to the CAG report, included eight projects for the construction of Thumboormuzhi units in its detailed project report for solid waste management whereas these projects had already been completed in previous years. “Such instances strongly suggest that the DPRs were hastily prepared without gap analysis, possibly to avoid lapse of funds earmarked,” the report observed.
The audit found that the segregation of biomedical waste was not done properly at Government Medical College, Alappuzha and that solid waste was getting mixed with biomedical waste. At the medical college, in the absence of an effluent treatment plant, biomedical liquid waste mixed with other liquid waste was directly disposed to common drains/canals after chlorination and without any prescribed treatment procedures, polluting water bodies and endangering the health of humans/animals in the vicinity, the report noted.
