As the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) widened its probe as part of a broader corruption case linked to RG Kar Hospital after the rape and murder of a doctor there, it also looked into the sale and disposal of biomedical waste at the hospital.
The RG Kar Medical College and Hospital has been at the centre of the storm after a 31-year-old doctor was found raped and murdered in the seminar hall of the hospital.
Indian Express has learnt that SNG Envirosolutions, owned by Kolkata businessman SP Singh, a relatively unknown company, has reportedly handled up to 70 per cent of biomedical waste from government hospitals across West Bengal, including RG Kar. This, despite it not owning any waste treatment plants, is a clear violation of its contract’s terms.
Also Read: Kolkata doctor rape murder: WB Medical Council cancels ex-RG Kar principal’s licence amid CBI probe
According to the records, accessed by IE, in 2019, the company won the contract by tying up with a Delhi firm that owned a treatment plant in UP.
Following this, SNG collected tonnes of hospital waste daily for 44 months relying on a sub-contract with its rival. All this while, SNG operated from a “table” in the premises of one its key investors, a business family of Kolkata.
The government terminated SNG’s contract in June 2023 after the subcontractor withdrew. Within three months, SNG established its first treatment plant in the state and secured a new contract, IE reported based on its investigation.
When contacted, S P Singh blamed Covid for the delay in setting up waste treatment plants. “We took serious losses after providing critical waste disposal services during Covid after we won the bid following every rule. This was a genuine joint venture and the partners paid equally for the bank guarantee,” Singh told The Indian Express.
Meanwhile, Rajiv Sinha, who was the state’s Health Secretary when SNG won the contract, said that “everything went by the book”.
He told IE that rules allowed companies without treatment plants “provided they set up the facilities within the prescribed deadline of four months from getting environmental clearance (EC).” This company, however, did not complete the EC application process for years, IE has learnt.
When asked about this, Sinha, who is now the state’s Election Commissioner, said, “If a company violated any condition later, my successors in the Health (department) must have taken appropriate steps.”
The West Bengal Health Department issued a tender in February 2019 for hospital waste disposal, seeking bids from Common Bio-Medical Waste Treatment Facility (CBMWTF) operators across 13 zones in the state. A joint venture between SP Singh’s SNG Mercantile and Delhi-based Spectrum Waste Solutions was awarded the contract for nine zones in November 2019.
The contract mandated that SP Singh set up nine treatment plants — one in each zone — in four months from the time it obtained Environment Clearances (EC) for construction. It also mandated daily collection and incineration of biomedical waste, along with the establishment of nine treatment plants within four months of obtaining environmental clearances.
Instead, SNG Envirosolutions reportedly struck a deal with Hyderabad-based Medicare Environment Management, the company that got the contract for the remaining 30 per cent of government hospital waste.
In August 2022, a PIL was filed challenging SNG’s contract. The PIL, filed by Kolkata-based social worker Prabir Das, flagged allegations of improper disposal of hospital waste in municipal dump sites.
By now, the state Health department had served four notices — between December 2020 and August 2022 — to SNG for not setting up the treatment plants. “In all those years, the company completed EC applications for only two plants, instead of nine, and all we did was to wait, watch and send periodic notices to be put in the file. But the department had to act after the PIL was admitted,” said a Health official.
Later in October of the same year, the Health Department terminated its contract over non-compliance.
Then, SNG challenged this termination in the Calcutta High Court. On May 31, 2023, Medicare informed the Health Department of its decision to end its subcontract with SNG, leading to the reassignment of all zones previously managed by SNG to Medicare by June 2.
As SNG withdrew from the waste management sector, work on its treatment plants progressed rapidly, with the first facility in Bankura receiving a ‘Consent to Operate’ certificate from the West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) on June 30, 2023. WBPCB officials declined to comment on whether any actions were taken against SNG for previously operating without a license, as per The Indian Express.
On August 11, 2023, the Health Department reassigned several zones to SNG, including Bankura and Murshidabad. However, Principal Secretary (Health) Nigam did not address questions concerning the delay in revoking SNG’s original contract or the factors considered when renewing its agreement.