NT NETWORK
Panaji
The central pollution control board issued directions to all state pollution control boards to ensure that all municipal bodies and operators of common biomedical waste treatment facilities uses ‘COVID19BWM APP’ and feed daily data on collection and disposal of biomedical waste.
This direction came after the state pollution control boards repeatedly failed to use this app and transmit real time data to central board to help them to keep a watch on COVID-19 related biomedical waste.
The apex pollution monitoring body issued direction under section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
The CPCB had come up with the mobile application ‘COVID19BWM APP’ in May for tracking biomedical waste daily, following directions from the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
This is to ensure that the waste is collected, transported and sent to a registered common biomedical waste treatment facility.
CPCB had provided login credentials to all common biomedical waste treatment facilities as well as to the nodal officers of state pollution
control boards and issued notices to them thrice requesting to ensure usage of tracking app but failed to comply with.
However the central body has now given 15 days time to all the state pollution control boards to ensure all municipal bodies uses this app and common biomedical waste treatment facilities have online continuous emission monitoring system (OCEMS) at plant and data is transmitted to state pollution control board and also central pollution control board.
It further demanded to make the real time OCEMS data available for public use on their website so that working of CBMWTFs is known.
The direction also includes on municipal bodies to educate individual households about segregation and also send biomedical waste for treatment to common facilities only.