Public Hearing

1. Public Hearing

The Terms of Reference issued by SEAC (vide Memo No. 516-2N-47/2016(E), dated August 10, 2016) requires that Public Hearing shall be conducted and issues raised and commitments made by the Project Proponent shall be included in the Final EIA Report.

A public notification in this regard has been published in the locally distributed newspapers, Ei Samay and The Times of on 20.02.2017 and 10.02.2017 respectively. Besides, that pamphlets were spread in all the nearby wards as well as for the promotion of the public hearing, announcements were also made through banners and loudspeaker installed on a mobile vehicle.

West Bengal Pollution Control Board after observing all formalities, held the Public Hearing on 14.03.2017 at 12:00 Hrs. at the meeting hall of Polba-Dadpur Panchayat Samity, , .

The public hearing was held in the presence of of Sri Pradip Acharyya, Additional District Magistrate (General), Mr. Santu Das, Block Development Officer- Polba Block, Shri Samit Dutta Assistant Environmental Engineer, West Bengal Pollution Control Board and other officers.

Public hearing minutes (signed copy) and the suggestions /complaints raised during public hearing and replies along with action plan are given below

Table 1.1 Public Hearing Issues and Action Plan S. No Name & Address Comments & Remarks Replies/Action Plan 1 Amar Nath Bhagat, Polba, He welcomed the project proposal of The necessary pollution control systems for Dadpur Medicare Environmental Management Pvt. air quality and water/waste water are Ltd. He mentioned that the proposed bio- provided to treat the pollutants generated medical waste project will be beneficial to during the bio-medical waste treatment all the hospitals/health care units who are process. These facilities will be fulfilled along generating the bio-medical waste and with the execution of project. suggested to provide all the necessary treatment facilities to avoid any local environmental damages. 2 Mrs. Rupali Pal, Ochai village. Welcomed the project. She mentioned that The environmental management plan the proposed project will handle the provided for handling gaseous/liquid and hospital waste from Hooghly and solid pollutants will be installed to control the surrounding districts and will be treated pollutants at source of generation and avoid and disposed in a systematic way to avoid any environmental damages to the any kind of environmental pollution and surroundings. recommended to provide all the pollution control measures to handle the pollutants. 3 Mrs. Papiya Bandyopadhyay, Apprehended that the project will be highly The proposed Bio-Medical Waste Treatment Bamna village. beneficial to the local population due to the Facility needs 35 employees to handle all the bio-medical waste project facility available transportation process and treatment for treating different types of hospital systems and most of the persons are waste. She also suggested providing local employed from local surrounding villages

S. No Name & Address Comments & Remarks Replies/Action Plan employment for the people of Polba- based on their qualifications and suitability. In Dadpur Dev.block. addition No. of indirect employment will also 4 Mrs. Aparna Chatterjee, Polba Welcomed the project and mentioned that be generated due to the proposed Bio- due to Dev. Block the proposed project at Medical Waste Treatment Facility. Polba-Dadpur dev. block which will provide local direct employment in the process plant and is expected to generate indirect employment also. 5 Shri Ajit Kumar Ghosh, He suggested to collect the waste from The Bio-Medical waste generated from Karmadhakshya, hospitals/ health care units of surrounding various hospitals and Health Care Units of janaswasthya O Paribesh areas in systematic manner as per the surrounding districts will be collected in Sthayee Samity, Polba- rules, so as to maintain the health designated closed vehicles to avoid any Dadpur Panchayat Samity standards of the people. spillages during the transportation to the Bio- Medical Waste Treatment Facility. All the latest guidelines and Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules 2016, will be followed in operating the Bio-Medical Waste Facility and reduce/minimize any health damages. 6 Shri Ramen Halder, Pradhan, Warmly welcomed the proposed project The proposed Bio-Medical Waste Treatment Polba Gram Panchayat and suggested to provide awareness Facility will have all the necessary treatment programmes and training on health status systems along with required infrastructure and bio-medical waste treatment facilities facilities to handle the hospital waste in and recommended to establish similar bio- compliance with Bio-Medical Waste medical waste facility with all amenities in Management Rules 2016.

S. No Name & Address Comments & Remarks Replies/Action Plan the proposed project. 7 Shri Samit Dutta, Assistant He suggested to the project proponent to The EIA/EMP report has provided all the Environmental Engineer, West incorporate the points raised and include necessary management plan, pollution Bengal Pollution Control the issues discussed in the hearing in their control system and also the protocol for post Board. final EIA/EMP report and address the issues project monitoring based on the recent Bio- properly during implementation of the medical Waste Management Rules 2016. All project. the identified EMP and post project monitoring will be implemented without any deviations from Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules 2016, to handle the bio- medical waste.

Figure 1.1 Public Hearing Photographs