Tobacco factory built next to schools in Lalmonirhat

Without taking any permission from the Department of Environment (DoE), a tobacco factory has been constructed illegally only ten meter away from three educational institutions at Saptibari village of Aditmari upazila in Lalmonirhat. School kids, teachers and local people have protested against it and urged the authority concerned to take steps to remove the tobacco factory from the area. Factory and local sources said, Mian Leaf Ltd, a tobacco factory was constructed on about 80 decimal lands in 2012, but its owner didn't run the factory functionally for processing tobacco in 2013 due to heavy protests by school kids, teachers and local people. The factory's owner has decided to run the factory during the upcoming tobacco harvesting period, April to May this year 2014. The three educational institutions affected by this are Saptibari High School, Saptibari Govt Primary School and Saptibari Blind School – all in the same campus at about 10 meter distance from the tobacco factory, called Mian Leaf Ltd. If the tobacco factory becomes operational, then that it will hamper the educational atmosphere in the area, not to mention give rise to health concerns.
The senior technician of Rajshahi Divisional DoE Mir Kashem said, all the papers in favour of the tobacco factory Mian Leaf Ltd have been sent to the head office of DoE in Dhaka for approval of the factory in the area. He further added that 'no objection letters' regarding the tobacco factory, signed by Aditmari UNO, Saptibari UP chairman and heads of three educational institutions, have already been submitted to the DoE.
However, the Aditmari Upazila Nirbahi Officer UNO Rezaul Alam Sarker, Saptibari UP Chairman Sohrab Hossain, headmaster of Saptibari Govt Primary School Rasheda Begum, headmaster of Saptibari High School Tayez Uddin Tazu and Saptibari Blind School's resource teacher Ershad Ali said that they didn't sign any 'no objection letter'. Instead, they submitted objection against Mian Leaf Ltd to the DoE. Jointly, the owner of Mian Leaf Ltd and corrupted officials submitted fake 'no objection letters' using falsified signatures, they alleged, adding they will challenge the 'no objection letters'. According to the teachers and students of the three institutions, Mian Leaf Ltd was constructed at Saptibari village in violation of rules. They protested against the construction of the factory, but the factory owner didn't stop from constructing it beside the educational institutions in the village. According to the heads of the three educational institutions, if the tobacco factory runs functionally in the village, it will bring harm to 1,500 students of these three institutions. They also added that they will call about a tougher program of protest if the factory finally goes into operation. "If the tobacco factory runs functionally, we will have no choice but to leave our schools and find other ones as we will not be able to tolerate the bad smell of tobaccos and the noise of the factory," school kids said.
Visually impaired student Ibrahim Miah informed, "We, the visual impaired students study by using speech alone, so we need a noise free atmosphere. If the tobacco factory is run in the area, we will simply not be able to follow lessons anymore." "I will go to the court if my fake signature is used in 'no objection letter' to approval the tobacco factory," said Saptibari High School's headmaster Tayez Uddin Tazu said, adding that the tobacco factory owner tried a lot to 'manage' him in various way so that he does not protest, but stands firmly against the tobacco factory. A few of the local people, who are currently unemployed, said that they are poor and they need work, but they don't want to get jobs in the tobacco factory which will put their children in a red zone. They will not allow the tobacco factory in the area to pollute the educational environment, they said.
The manager of the tobacco factory Mian Leaf Ltd, Auhiuzzaman Chowdhury Khokan, said that they have submitted all relevant documents to the DoE for approval of the factory at Saptibari village, and they will run it functionally after getting official approval from DoE as soon as possible. The factory was constructed to provide job opportunity to the local people as the area is poverty stricken, he added, denying the allegation that they submitted fake 'no objection letters' using falsified signatures. The Director of Rajshahi Divisional DoE Ali Reza Mazid said, if he gets written complaints about fake signatures, his department officials will conduct an investigation on the spot, and then process the factory's application based on the findings of the investigation. He also added that he will also take departmental action if the DoE officials finds any malpractice regarding the matter. The Aditmari Upazila Nirbahi Officer UNO Rezaul Alam Sarker said, he will take administrative action if the tobacco factory Mian Leaf Ltd begins operation without proper clearance obtained using genuine documents.