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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

Commercial LPG 'evaporates' in Maharashtra

Mumbai : The short supply of commercial LPG cylinders turned ‘grim’ on Wednesday as hundreds of small and medium eateries – on whom the ordinary working Mumbaikars depend on for daily meals – shut down or drastically trimmed menus, on Wednesday.   With an estimated 50,000-plus hotels, restaurants and small food joints, the crunch is beginning to be felt severely, said Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI) vice-president and Hotel and Restaurant Association Western...

Commercial LPG 'evaporates' in Maharashtra

Mumbai : The short supply of commercial LPG cylinders turned ‘grim’ on Wednesday as hundreds of small and medium eateries – on whom the ordinary working Mumbaikars depend on for daily meals – shut down or drastically trimmed menus, on Wednesday.   With an estimated 50,000-plus hotels, restaurants and small food joints, the crunch is beginning to be felt severely, said Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI) vice-president and Hotel and Restaurant Association Western India (HRAWI) spokesperson Pradeep Shetty.   “We are in continuous touch with the concerned authorities, but the situation is very gloomy. There is no response from the Centre or the Ministry of Petroleum on when the situation will ease. We fear that more than 50 pc of all eateries in Mumbai will soon down the shutters. The same will apply to the rest of the state and many other parts of India,” Shetty told  ‘ The Perfect Voice’ .   The shortage of commercial LPG has badly affected multiple sectors, including the hospitality and food industries, mass private or commercial kitchens and even the laundry businesses, industry players said.   At their wits' ends, many restaurateurs resorted to the reliable old iron ‘chulhas’ (stoves) fired by either coal or wood - the prices of which have also shot up and result in pollution - besides delaying the cooking.   Anticipating a larger crisis, even domestic LPG consumers besieged retail dealers in Mumbai, Pune, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Ratnagiri, Kolhapur, Akola, Nagpur to book their second cylinder, with snaky queues in many cities. The stark reality of the 12-days old Gulf war with the disturbed supplies has hit the people and industries in the food supply chains that feed crores daily.   “The ordinary folks leave home in the morning after breakfast, then they rely on the others in the food chain for their lunch or dinner. Many street retailers have also shut down temporarily,” said Shetty.   Dry Snacks A quick survey of some suburban ‘khau gullies’ today revealed that the available items were mostly cold sandwiches, fruit or vegetable salads, cold desserts or ice-creams, cold beverages and packed snacks. Few offered the regular ‘piping hot’ foods that need elaborate cooking, or charging higher than normal menu rates, and even the app-based food delivery system was impacted.   Many people were seen gloomily munching on colorful packets of dry snacks like chips, chivda, sev, gathiya, samosas, etc. for lunch, the usually cheerful ‘chai ki dukaans’ suddenly disappeared from their corners, though soft drinks and tetrapaks were available.   Delay, Scarcity  Maharashtra LPG Dealers Association President Deepak Singh yesterday conceded to “some delays due to supply shortages” of commercial cylinders, but assured that there is no scarcity of domestic cylinders.   “We are adhering to the Centre’s guidelines for a 25 days booking period between 2 cylinders (domestic). The issue is with commercial cylinders but even those are available though less in numbers,” said Singh, adding that guidelines to prioritise educational institutions, hospitals, and defence, are being followed, but others are also getting their supplies.   Despite the assurances, Shetty said that the current status is extremely serious since the past week and the intermittent disruptions have escalated into a near-total halt in supplies in many regions since Monday.   Adding to the dismal picture is the likelihood of local hoteliers associations in different cities like Pune, Palghar, Nagpur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, and more resorting to tough measures from Thursday, including temporary shutdown of their outlets, which have run out of gas stocks.

Daily Record, Monthly Report: Bio-Waste Rules Enforced

Proper handling, segregation, and disposal of biomedical waste is now a strict facility-level responsibility.

The Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016, marked a significant shift in India’s approach to handling medical waste—simplifying classifications, expanding coverage, and aiming for greater compliance across the board. In my previous article, I outlined the evolution of these rules and the rationale behind the 2016 overhaul. Today, I will delve into their actual scope and applicability. From hospitals and clinics to health camps and school infirmaries, the rules apply to a wide array of institutions involved in the generation or handling of biomedical waste. Let’s take a closer look at who these rules apply to, what types of waste are excluded, and the detailed responsibilities of key players, especially the “occupier,” who plays a central role in ensuring that biomedical waste is managed safely and responsibly.


According to the notification, the Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016, apply to all individuals and entities involved in any aspect of handling biomedical waste. This includes those who generate, collect, receive, store, transport, treat, dispose of, or manage such waste in any form. The rules cover a wide range of establishments, such as:

· Hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, and dispensaries

· Veterinary institutions and animal houses

· Pathological laboratories and blood banks

· AYUSH hospitals and other clinical establishments

· Research and educational institutions

· Health camps, medical or surgical camps, and vaccination camps

· Blood donation camps and first aid rooms in schools

· Forensic laboratories and research labs


However, these rules shall not apply to radioactive wastes, hazardous chemicals, municipal solid wastes, lead-acid battery waste, hazardous wastes, electronic and electrical waste, hazardous microorganisms, genetically engineered microorganisms, etc. In these rules, the responsibilities of the concerned authorised persons, namely an “Occupier” and an “Operator,” have been specified.


(a) Occupier: The occupier is a person who has control over an institution generating biomedical waste, such as a hospital, nursing home, clinic, or laboratory, and has overall administrative control to ensure the proper handling, segregation, storage, and disposal of biomedical waste generated within their facility. They must take all necessary steps to prevent adverse effects on human health and the environment. The following are the major responsibilities of the occupier:


1. Provide a safe, ventilated, and secured location for storing segregated biomedical waste in coloured bags or containers within the premises, as specified in these rules.


2. Ensure that there is no secondary handling, pilferage of recyclables, or inadvertent scattering or spillage by animals, and that the biomedical waste from such place or premises shall be directly transported in the manner as

prescribed in these rules to the common treatment facility.


3. Ensure that the laboratory waste, microbiological waste, blood samples, and blood bags are pre-treated on-site through disinfection or sterilisation in the manner as prescribed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) or National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) guidelines before sending it to a common treatment facility for final disposal.


4. Ensure that the solid waste, other than biomedical waste, is disposed of following the provisions of the respective waste management rules made under the relevant laws and amended from time to time, and do not mix treated biomedical waste with municipal solid waste.


5. Provide on-site training regarding handling and segregation of waste to all its healthcare workers and others involved in handling of biomedical waste at the time of induction and thereafter at least once every year, and the details of training programmes conducted, number of personnel trained, and number of personnel who have not undergone any training shall be provided in the Annual Report.


6. Provide adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) to health care workers and others involved in handling biomedical waste.


7. Arrange for a health check-up at the time of induction and at least once a year for all its health care workers and others involved in handling biomedical waste, and maintain the records for the same.


8. Maintain and update the biomedical waste management register daily. Display the monthly record on the website as per the prescribed categories and colour codes in the biomedical waste management rules.


Stay tuned for the next part, where I’ll cover the remaining aspects. Have a wonderful weekend!

(The writer is an environmentalist.)

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