HYDERABAD: The ongoing Covid-19 crisis has resulted in an enormous increase of burden of biomedical waste disposal in the state, with Telangana state generating as much as 4,960 kg of Covid-related waste every day in the state. Across India, the Covid-19 related biomedical waste this May stood at 2,03,000 kg a day, accounting for a third of all biomedical waste generated in the country every day, according to the ‘State of the Environment 2021: In Figures’, compiled by the Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi.
The report also noted that Telangana state treated less than 50 per cent of sewerage it generated and pegged the daily generation of sewerage in the state at 2,660 million litres per day.
On the forests front, the report said Telangana state recorded an unusually high number of forest fire alerts – 19,256 – between January 1 and May 31 this year. It also said the state witnessed a 25 per cent drop in the value of non-timber forest produce (NTFP) values between 2016-17 and 2017-18, in Telangana state and put the NTFP value for 2017-18 at Rs 25,482 lakh.
While that was the case with NTFP, timber too lost a sizable chunk of its value — by an astounding 31 per cent - where the value of timber provisioning services in 2017-18 was put at Rs 18, 660 lakh.
With respect to the per hectare economic value of forests in the state, the report said the value of timber per hectare in Telangana during 2017-18 was Rs 666, NTFP was Rs 227, with each hectare of forests in the state valued at Rs 8,338 for its carbon retention service.
Nationwide, the report said with respect to natural calamities, the country witnessed 21 major weather events which claimed over 1,374 lives in 2020. In the year the state saw 61 people losing their lives to heavy rain and floods that lashed Telangana state from August 15 last year, till October 20.
