The penalties followed an inspection in Fatullah, where officials found the factories lacked environmental clearance and were burning wood and waste in boilers.
Two textile and dyeing factories in Bangladesh’s Narayanganj district were fined a total of Tk 250,000 for air pollution after allegedly operating without environmental clearance and burning wood and waste in boilers, officials said.
The fines were imposed by a mobile court of the Department of Environment on Wednesday afternoon in the Sastapur area of Fatullah, Narayanganj Sadar upazila, according to A H M Rashed, deputy director of the department’s Narayanganj district office.
Messrs Rahmat Textiles Mills was fined Tk 200,000 and SK Dyeing and Finishing Mills was fined Tk 50,000 for air pollution, Rashed said.
The two factories were fined under Section 15(2) of the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act, 1995 for violating Section 8(a) of the Air Pollution (Control) Rules, 2022.
The mobile court was conducted by S M Foyez Uddin, executive magistrate and upazila nirbahi officer of Narayanganj Sadar, and Sadia Akter, assistant commissioner (land) of the upazila.
Mohammad Huzzatul Islam, an inspector with the Department of Environment who was involved in the prosecution, said, “The two establishments had been operating without environmental clearance. Although gas was supposed to be used in the boilers, wood and waste were being burned, for which they also did not have a permit from the Forest Department. Black smoke was being released openly, polluting the air in the residential area.”
Members of the Special Response Battalion (SRB) assisted the Department of Environment during the operation, it said.
