A lower court here on Monday sentenced a former Superintendent of the SCB Medical College Hospital, DN Moharana, to undergo simple imprisonment of four months and slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 on him for violating the provisions of the Biomedical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules of 1998 while handling the wastes of the hospital between 2002 and 2010.
Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDJM) B Goutam also held the hospital guilty of not adhering to the Rules despite repeated warnings from the Odisha State Pollution Control Board during the period and imposed a penalty of Rs5 lakh on the hospital. The penalty amount would be deposited in the corpus fund of the Pollution Control Board, the court ruled.
The hospital was handling its biomedical waste under the direction and the guidance of the Pollution Control Board. But in 2006, the board detected certain anomalies in the management and handling of the waste and, accordingly, the hospital was advised to adhere to the terms and conditions laid down by the board.
“Despite repeated warnings from the board, when the hospital failed to eradicate the shortcomings and went ahead with biomedical waste management without proper permission, the board in 2010 had filed a complaint case against the hospital and the then Superintendent DN Moharana in the court of SDJM,” said the Board’s counsel PC lenka.