Brickfield fined
The Directorate of Environment (DoE) yesterday fined a brickfield Tk 10 lakh for illegally carrying out its activities at Oshtogram village in Kishoreganj on the bank of the river Meghna with a forged environmental clearance certificate.
DoE Director (enforcement) Mohammad Munir Chowdhury also asked the owner of Ayesha Bricks, Tabarak Bhuiyan, to stop operation, remove the brickfield and return lands to the farmers otherwise stern action will be taken against him, said a DoE release.
Tabarak set up the brickfield grabbing farmlands in 2006 with a counterfeit DoE certificate, which has been causing damage to adjacent farmlands, biodiversity and public health.
Tabarak also deployed armed Ansar force to prevent the farmers from access to lands. The brickfield was set up on 12 acre of land though government generally approves only two acre for any brickfield.
The victims, who lost their lands, recently urged the DoE to remove the brickfield and recover their lands.
Victims in their appeal said their production has been dropped significantly due to the pollutants discharged from the brickfield.
In response to a request from the director of DoE, the headquarters of Ansar and Village Defense Party issued a directive for removal of the force from the brickfield.
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