By Madhumita das
A two day regional workshop on Hospital Waste Management and Solid Waste Management has been jointly organized by Friends of Vrindavan and Toxics Link in Vrindavan. The specific issues such as electronic waste, the international waste trade, and the emerging issues of pesticides & Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) was also addressed in the workshop. Mr. Satish Sinha Associate Director of Toxics link gave an overview scenario on the waste management through out the country.
Participants from different governmental offices, Non Government Organizations and representatives from the Civil Society attended the workshop. Delegates from the different Medical Associations of western U.P. and the NGO’s from four Eco – cities of Puri, Ujjain, Vrindavan and Tirupati along with the representatives from the Centre for Environment Education and GTZ – ASEM also participated in the workshop.
The day one was dedicated for the discussion on the Bio Medical Waste in which representatives from different Pollution Control Boards and people from health care professions, representatives from the common facility operator in Agra participated in the event. The discussion was focused on how to dispose the waste generated in the hospitals. Dr. Rajeev Upadhyaya, the Regional Officer of the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board insisted on the waste segregation at source in different color coded bins and bags. He also said that there is a provision of six months imprisonment and a fine of Rs. One lakh to the defaulters who don’t comply with the rules. The General Manager of Datt Enterprises Mr. Omendra Shrivastava emphasized on the need of coordination among the governmental agencies to enforce the law among the waste generators.
The issues of Solid waste management were addressed on the 2nd day of the workshop followed by the Exposure visit to the Friends of Vrindavan waste management projects. The tri – sector partnership between the Municipality, NGO’s and the Civil Society resolved to be the best model to deal with the solid waste. Business opportunities and entrepreneurship on waste management was also discussed. The NGO’s implementing the Eco City in the four pilgrim towns exchanged the knowledge and information on the best practices of their waste management in the respective towns through the means of power point presentation. The NGO’s of the western U.P. and the nearby districts of Rajasthan also learned from the Eco City NGO’s how to begin the waste management practices in their towns.
Prominent spiritual leader Acharya Shrivatsa Goswami said in his inaugural speech that the Environmental issues have to be linked with the religion, particularly in the pilgrimage town. He gave examples of Lord Krishna’s pastimes how he dealt with pollution and the message he gave to people if it is not handled at the initial stage. Swami Sevak Sharan said while we are talking of waste management we should implement the segregation practices by heart. We have to go back to our basics which we have learnt from our parents and people used to do in the olden times.
The Bio degradable plastic carry bags to be distributed and marketed by Friends of Vrindavan to the traders have also been launched. The organic manure, organic pesticides, baskets made from the waste plastic bags, different colored waste collection bins were also demonstrated.
The Vote of thanks was given by Mr. Jagannath Poddar of Friends of Vrindavan.
Madhumita
Friends of Vrindavan