HC fines 4 factories for polluting Buriganga

The High Court today fined four factories in Dhaka’s Shyampur area for running without effluent treatment plants (ETPs), thus polluting Buriganga River and suppressing information about it to the court.

The court ordered the owners of Mita Textiles, M/S Ovijat Dyeing, Chandpur Textiles and Dyeing, and Sharmim Textile and Dyeing to pay Tk 5 lakh each to the Department of Environment (DoE) within 15 days after receiving a copy of the verdict.

The DoE has been directed to use the money to free the river from pollution, Advocate Manzill Murshid, a lawyer for DoE, told The Daily Star.

The bench of Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore and Justice Mohammad Ullah passed the order as their owners have concealed information about the Supreme Court’s restriction on running the factories without having ETPs while getting permission from another HC bench.

The four factories were dumping wastes into the Buriganga River and polluting the environment, Manzill said, adding that the operation of the four factories must be stopped following the HC verdict.

The HC bench also rejected four separate writ petitions filed by the four factories challenging the legality of the notices issued by the DoE last year, asking their owners to stop their activities as they do not have ETP.