Authorities shut down a long-running battery-burning operation in Haluaghat, seizing equipment and batteries as seven workers received three-month jail terms.
Authorities in Bangladesh have shut down an illegal lead-processing factory in Haluaghat in Mymensingh district after finding workers burning batteries to produce lead, while seven workers were sentenced to three months in prison for violating environmental protection laws.
The action was taken during a joint operation from midnight to 5 a.m. on Monday, September 7, in Swadeshi Uttarpara of Swadeshi Union No. 12 in Haluaghat. The factory was found operating at the time of the raid, with batteries being burned to produce lead.
The joint task force comprised the Haluaghat Upazila administration, police, Rapid Action Battalion-14, Battalion Ansar and the Department of Environment. The operation was led by Haluaghat Upazila Nirbahi Officer Faisal Ahmed.
The seven workers were detained and sentenced to three months of simple imprisonment for violating the Environmental Conservation Act.
Those sentenced were A. Mannan, 48, from Sabujbag; A. Rahim, 24, from Krishnapur; Md Manzurul Islam, 24, from Pakurtala; Md Mehedi Hasan, 22, from Khubjipur; Md Anarul Islam, 40, from Kamaliapara; Md Mashiur, 28, from Chakuli; and Md Shipon, 20.
The Department of Environment said regular cases were being initiated against the factory owner, Sharaf Uddin, and the landowner, Shafiqul Rahman Shafik, chairman of Amtoil Union and joint convener of the Haluaghat Upazila unit of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
Officials said the battery-burning and lead-production operation had been running illegally in Swadeshi Uttarpara for a long time. The issue was discussed on Facebook before the upazila administration moved to conduct the operation.
During the raid, the factory’s furnace was extinguished with water and its operations were stopped.
Mohammad Nur Kutubul Alam Siddique, deputy director of the Mymensingh Department of Environment, said a truck, 100 sacks of coal, two Blue-R machines, one scale and 150 batteries were seized from the site. The seized items were handed over to a local union parishad member for safekeeping.
Siddique said proceedings were under way to file cases against the owner and the landowner over their involvement with the illegally operated factory.
Local residents said smoke and hazardous waste from burning old batteries were polluting the environment. They called for strict action against such illegal factories operating in populated areas and demanded that both the factory and landowners be brought under the law.
“The illegally operated lead-production factory has been shut down,” Upazila Nirbahi Officer Faisal Ahmed said. “Operations against such illegal activities that are harmful to the environment and public health will continue.”
