PGI Chandigarh under scanner over untreated waste discharge

Dushyant Singh Pundir

Chandigarh, February 17

The Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGI), the premium health institution of the region, has come under the scanner of the Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee (CPCC) for violating the norms of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) over discharge of wastewater.

Biggest polluter

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3.5 MGD* untreated waste discharged in MC sewerage system

*Million gallons per day

Fines imposed in past

Rs 2.89 cr Railway station

Rs 1.74 cr CRPF campus

The CPCC has found that the PGI has been releasing untreated wastewater into the sewerage system of the Municipal Corporation for past many years.

The CPCC had issued a show-cause notice to the PGI seeking an explanation as to why a sewerage treatment plan (STP) and an effluent treatment plant (ETP) had not been installed by the institution, which treats thousands of patients from the region every day, nearly six months ago.

Failure to get a response from the PGI, the CPCC again issued a show-cause notice, but to no avail. The CPCC then took up the matter with UT Adviser Dharam Pal who convened a meeting with senior officials of the PGI. The Adviser said the PGI authorities had been directed to set up an ETP as well as an STP at the earliest.

A CPCC official said the PGI would have to pay environmental compensation if it still failed to install the ETP and STP within a stipulated period. The official said the PGI was the biggest polluter in the city as it was releasing the nearly 3.5 MGD of untreated liquid waste into the MC sewerage system.

He further said the PGI had to follow the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, as the hospital came under the industrial category. Recently, the CPCC had imposed a penalty of Rs 2.89 crore on the railway station and Rs 1.74 crore on the Central Reserve Police Force for violating the NGT norms and causing damage to the environment.

The committee had found that the railway station was releasing wastewater into pits, instead of the MC sewerage system. Also, no ETP and STP had been set up at the railway station. Similarly, the CRPF campus at Hallo Majra was found releasing wastewater into the storm water drainage, which finally opened into Sukhna Choe.

Faces green penalty

• PGI has been found releasing untreated wastewater into MC’s sewerage system for many years
• CPCC issued notices twice asking why no sewerage and effluent treatment plants had been installed
• CPCC approached UT Adviser, who met PGI officials and asked them to install ETP and STP at the earliest
• PGI may have to pay environmental compensation if it fails to install treatment plants soon