The Bombay High Court has issued a directive stating that the biomedical waste treatment plant located in the Patalganga MIDC area of Raigad district, which serves as an alternative site for the current facility in Mumbai’s Govandi area, must be operational within two years. Failure to meet this deadline will result in government officials and the installing firm being held accountable for their inaction.
Last month, a division bench consisting of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Arif S Doctor had instructed state authorities to make a “sincere endeavor” to reduce the construction time for the biomedical waste treatment plant at Patalganga MIDC area in Raigad district, following the granting of environmental clearances.
The court’s directions were in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the Govandi New Sangam Welfare Society, which had sought the permanent closure of the biomedical waste treatment plant in Govandi due to concerns over toxic emissions from the incinerators. Local MLA Abu Azmi had also filed a petition on the issue. The High Court emphasized the need for expeditious environmental clearances, given that biomedical waste is generated daily and poses hazards to both healthcare workers and the general public.
In July of this year, SMS Envoclean Private Limited, the firm managing the BMC-run biomedical waste treatment plant in Govandi, had assured the court that the plant would be relocated to a new site within thirteen months after obtaining necessary permissions.
On Monday, the court reviewed a revised timeline for the construction and expressed dissatisfaction with the reduction of just one month in the time taken to build new incinerators at Patalganga MIDC.