Chennai: The National Green Tribunal has taken a suo motu case into the dumping of medical waste from Kerala into Ecologically Fragile Areas in neighbouring Tamil Nadu.
The Tribunal initiated the action based on media reports and included the Chief Secretaries of both the states and 16 district collectors as parties to the suit.
The case relates to the reported dumping of medical wastes like used syringes, needles, surgery wastes, tubes, and the like in ecologically sensitive areas in Tamil Nadu, paving the way to serious environmental and health issues.
A bench comprising Justice Pushpa Satyanarayanan and Dr Satyagopal Korlapathi directed the collectors of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Idukki, Palakkad, Malappuram, Wayanad, Nilgiris, Tiruppur, Dindigul, Theni, Virudhunagar, Tenkasi, Tirunelveli, and Kanyakumari districts to submit a detailed report into the incident. The case will come up for hearing again on January 20.
Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZs) are also known as Ecologically Fragile Areas (EFAs).
Last year the Supreme Court had empowered the NGT to take up environmental issues on its own. It rejected the Union Government's stand that the Tribunal does not have suo moto powers.
“The National Green Tribunal cannot afford to remain a mute spectator when no one knocks on its door,” the court noted.
