City hospitals flout pollution norms

Rachna Khaira

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 8

In yet another glaring violation of the directions issued by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, a majority of the hospitals in the city have installed heavy duty generators at their entrance gates, causing a lot of air and noise pollution and inconvenience to the patients coming to the place and also to the people living nearby.

Though the Punjab and Haryana High Court, in an order issued in 2009, had banned the installation of generators anywhere in the hospitals except on rooftop, Section 5 of Chapter 8 of the building bylaws adopted by the Municipal Corporation Jalandhar, vide Resolution No. 1065, on October 14 in 2010, had also directed all hospitals to earmark a separate place to install a silent generator or any other mode at such place. They were also directed that the position of the generator should not cause any inconvenience to the patients, public, in general, and the neighborhood.

However, defying all rules of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and also the building bylaws of the MC, a majority of the hospitals in the city were found to have installed heavy duty generators at the entrance of their premises. Also, the installation of generators near the entrance to these hospitals cause a lot of inconvenience to the patients and their families who have to sit outside for many hours.

Though following the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s directions, the Municipal Corporation of Ludhiana had once sealed 15 generators in a commercial complex a few years ago, the Jalandhar MC has failed to take any such action till date.

While Guru Nanak Mission Hospital has installed its heavy duty generator unit at a height in the front side of its hospital, many other hospitals like the Apex, Orthanova, Sanjeevni , Joshi and Ankur Kids Super speciality hospital, too, have installed generators near their entrance gates.

Balbir Saini, chairman, Guru Nanak Mission Hospital, claimed ignorance about the pollution control guidelines and of the High Court order. “I was not aware about the directions of the High Court but will soon take necessary steps to adhere to the guidelines of the building bylaws,” said Saini.

Similarly, many other hospital authorities too claimed ignorance into the violations being conducted by them for the past few years.

While many of these generators were found to have been of noise-proof category, installing these near the entrance gate and obstructing the movement of the patients at the entrance itself leads to a glaring violation of the building bylaws.

Even though senior town planner Shakti Sagar Bhatia confirmed that the hospital authorities can only install generators at their rooftop and not near the entrance gates, the Town Planning Department has failed to take any action into the matter till date.