The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has found glaring weaknesses in the management of solid waste and ‘special waste’, including biomedical and e-waste, in the urban areas in Kerala.
The Report of the CAG on Waste Management in Urban Local Bodies tabled in the Assembly on Thursday found that 22 test-checked urban local bodies had adopted per capita estimates of waste generation without carrying out any survey.
In the case of the Brahmapuram centralised processing facility in Ernakulam district, the report noted that the plant has been functioning without authorisation from the State Pollution Control Board since 2010.
At Brahmapuram
Of the 3.85 lakh tonnes of waste which reached the Brahmapuram plant from 2016-17 to 2020-21, only a little over one lakh tonnes was processed. The remaining quantity, 2.85 lakh tonne, turned into ‘rejects,’ the report said, Further, ‘‘audit observed that leachate oozed underground from the waste heaped on the plant premises, polluting nearby waterbodies such as the Kadambrayar and the Chitrapuzha.”
The CAG report noted that 20 out of 50 test-checked hospitals had installed incinerators without authorisation from the Pollution Control Board. In the case of e-waste, inspections by audit officials in 42 scrap dealer shops revealed that they did not adhere to prescribed methodology of assessment, storage, and processing of e-wastes.
e-waste
The report also notes that only 60 local bodies had handed over e-waste to the Clean Kerala Company Ltd. (CKCL) formed by the State government during the period from 2016-17 to 2021-22. Only 35.24 tonnes of e-waste was collected in this manner.
The CAG has urged the government to direct the State Pollution Control Board to establish a mechanism whereby producers, importers and brand owners of products fulfill their Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) obligation under Plastic Waste and E-waste Management Rules 2016.
The government and the Pollution Control Board should jointly establish an effective mechanism for monitoring the performance of solid waste management systems and compliance with rules. The government should also operationalise a computerised Management Information System (MIS) and “resort to stringent action to curb instances of violation of waste management rules,” it noted.
