KOLKATA: Fifteen months after installation, several yellow bins, meant for Covid waste disposal, have gone missing from roads and streets across the city. This has resulted in the Covid waste strewn on roads in various parts of the city.
According to a Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s health department official, the lack of vigilance by the civic body’s Covid-combat team had resulted in the disappearance of the bins earmarked for the disposal of household Covid waste in several neighbourhoods.
“With the Covid graph of the city taking a downward turn, our vigilance against the dumping of household Covid wastes on roads also slackened,” said a KMC health department official.
According to a civic official, the KMC health department had procured 2,000 yellow bins for the disposal of household Covid waste in June 2020. However, a source in the KMC health department conceded that over 400 such bins couldn’t be placed in several areas across the city. A TOI team found several unused yellow bins gathering dust as they are lying dumped in the civic body’s ward health centres.
The results have been obvious. Large parts of the city such as Jadavpur, Baghajatin, Tollygunge, Garia, Patuli, Behala roads are getting littered with masks, gloves, adult diapers or medicine strips. A KMC doctor said that though the number of Covid positive patients has dropped to a large extent, that doesn’t mean there is any room for complacency. “If roads are getting littered with masks only, it can lead to a health hazard as there could be asymptomatic patients in a neighbourhood,” said the KMC doctor, who is a part of the civic body’s Covid combat team.
Sources in the KMC health department said the yellow bins were installed more than a year ago after the private agency, engaged by the civic body, complained of the kitchen waste mixing with Covid waste from large households. “After we installed yellow bins earmarked for disposal of Covid wastes in the majority of the KMC wards, the agency has witnessed positive results, particularly in some Covid-sensitive areas,” said a KMC official.
However, a section of the KMC health officials agreed that there was still the threat of the kitchen waste mixing with Covid wastes from some neighbourhoods.
“If we want to eliminate the risk of a health hazard, we need to install more bins in the areas, where there are no bins or lesser number of bins for the disposal of Covid wastes,” said a KMC official.
