Visakhapatnam: Opinions on e-waste Act sought

Visakhapatnam: The Parliamentary Committee on Subordinate Legislation will seek opinions and suggestions from industrial units and Public Sector Undertakings (PS-Us) in various parts of the country to submit a comprehensive report to the government on the proposed amendments to the e-Waste Management Act 2013 for incorporate various measures in the Act.

Addressing the media here on Saturday, Cha-irman of the committee T. Subbarami Reddy told media persons along with the other members of the committee J.P. Sharma, K. Ke-shava Rao, Arvind Kumar Singh, Shankarbhai N. Vegad, K.P. Ramalingam and Mahesh Tiwari that the government has proposed to amend the Act which was brought in 2013 for its implementation in a better way.

The committee has visited Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Visakh-apatnam and will be touring other parts in the country and to get suggestions and opinions to submit a report to amend the Act.

Reddy said that that they have visited industrial units and PSUs in Vizag during their three-day visit and obtained their views and made suggestions to them on the proposed im-plementation of the e-wa-ste management and their prime focus on proper im-plementation of e-waste management, solid waste management, environment and pollution and coastal regulation zone. During the visit to 1,250-beded King George Hospital (KGH) in Vizag city, the committee found that the nurses’ strength is very low, around 260 only aga-inst the minimum strength of 1,200.The PSUs had contributed Rs 75 crore for a super specially block in the KGH, the government had not sanctioned the amount for its construction. Reddy had information that the government planned to construct a bigger super specialty ward at an estimated cost of around Rs 375 crore. Reddy also requested CM N. Chandrababu Naidu to recruit around 1,000 nurses to KGH.

Expressing his displeasure over the delay in construction of buildings for the Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre being established by the Atomic Energy Commission at Aganam-pudi on the city's outskirts, Reddy said that though the funds of nearly Rs 400 crore have already been released when he was chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and forests, the hospital has not completed so far. Reddy said that Hindustan Construction Company Li-mited will complete the construction of the hospitals within the 10 months.