Tamil Nadu: Suspected Covid bio waste strewn on Vaigai riverbed

MADURAI: Plastic tubes used to collect swabs, bags labelled bio hazardous, testing strips and notepads, suspected to have been used for Covid-19 testing, were seen strewn on the Vaigai river bed near Anjeneya temple at Annaipatti in Dindigul district on Friday.
People make offerings to their departed elders and perform a ritual on the Vaigai river near the temple. As there is no heavy flow in the river bed now, the water has stagnated in pools on the bed. C Pandithurai, an advocate from Nilakottai, said he was shocked to find plastic tubes like those used for taking Covid-19 samples lying on the riverbed.
He had gone with his family to the river on Friday to make an offering in memory of his grandmother.
“I asked my relatives who had come with me not to step into the water,’’ he said. He also called up the Nilakottai police from the spot who in turn agreed to inform the local PHC and ask them to clean the river bed. “When so much effort is being taken to dispose of things used for Covid control and prevention by the government, here is someone who has carelessly thrown them on the river bed,” he said.
On being informed, Dindigul district collector M Vijayalakshmi asked Nilakottai tahsildar Eugene to visit the spot. Local authorities found the strewn vials were empty, but there were bags with the sign biohazard, “diagnostic specimen” written on it. They were collected and disposed of. As there were bags used by medical representatives also at the spot it is suspected that someone involved in medicine distribution would have thrown the bags there.