NEW DELHI — The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to enforce strict compliance with biomedical waste disposal rules following widespread violations discovered across 17 states and Union Territories, including six Northeast states.

In an August 5 order, an NGT bench headed by chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava and expert member Dr Afroz Ahmad addressed non-compliance with the Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2016. According to a CPCB report, 9,178 healthcare facilities across the affected regions continue to use deep burial for waste disposal. Inspections of 6,375 facilities by state pollution control authorities revealed that only 5,715 were fully compliant with prescribed norms.

The inspections identified widespread non-compliance, with specific violations including:

• Groundwater protection deficiencies: 477 facilities
• Lack of burial site authorization: 341 facilities
• Improper location of pits to prevent contamination: 316 facilities
• Inadequate record maintenance: 253 facilities
• Failure to prevent animal access: 229 facilities
• Improper covering of waste with soil: 216 facilities

The CPCB informed the tribunal that directives have been issued to state pollution control authorities to ensure corrective measures are taken. The agency stated that if compliance is not achieved within eight weeks, directions will be issued under Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, against defaulting healthcare facilities and states.

The tribunal has required the CPCB to submit a fresh compliance report at least one week prior to the next hearing set for October 28. The 17 states and Union Territories cited in the report include Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Ladakh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.