A polythene factory is running illegally at Bishbari village in Aditmari upazila of the district, polluting the environment there.

The factory has continued production of the harmful item in the populated area for over a month without any permission from the Department of Environment (DoE), locals said.

Shahidul Islam, a farmer of the village, said that a man named Salam Miah had set up an illegal polythene factory in the village overnight over a month ago. In fact, noise pollution by the factory affects their lives in various ways. They cannot fall asleep as the factory runs its operation for 24 hours.   

The environment of the village is being polluted due to the illegal factory which makes polythene, he said, adding that the factory continued production of the harmful item without any permission from DoE.

Altaf Hossain of the same village said the factory is running illegally in the village. It is very harmful for the environment. The owner of the factory was asked to remove it, but he refused to do it.

If the factory runs its operation here this way, the production of agricultural crops in the village may be disrupted, said Altaf.

Mobarak Hossain, a worker of the factory, said the factory produces an average of 600kg of polythene per day. Polythene of the factory is supplied to different districts of Rangpur division.

However, owner of the factory Salam Miah claimed that a maximum of 300kg of polythene is being produced in this factory every day.

Salalm added that he worked in a polythene factory of Dhaka for a long time. Returning to the village, he set up a factory.

Asked if there was any permission from the Department of Environment or the upazila administration for building the polythene factory, he said he is yet to take any permission from any department.

He remained silent when question of getting electricity connection to the factory from the irrigation pump line on agricultural land.

However, Salam said some villagers work at his factory.  He has created employment for them.

Kazi Saifuddin Ahmed, an inspector at DoE in Rangpur, said the factory is running illegally. It has been secretly making polythene.

Immediate steps will be taken by conducting a drive in the factory with the help of local administration, said the DoE official.