318 illegal brick kilns still polluting Dhaka air

Some 318 illegal brick kilns are still running and polluting the environment in Dhaka and four other surrounding districts -- Gazipur, Manikganj, Narayanganj and Munshiganj.

Mobile courts also shut down 95 others since November last year to January this year, Abdul Hamid, director general of Department of Environment, told the High Court yesterday.

Around 800 brick kilns, which were polluting the environment in Dhaka and its surrounding districts, have been closed since 2019 to December 2021, he told the court during the virtual hearing of a writ petition filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh in 2019 seeking necessary directives to curb air pollution.

The DG submitted a compliance report to the HC saying that the DoE is conducting mobile court drives against the illegal brick kilns and collecting compensation from their owners for damaging the environment.

The DoE has been running ads on national dailies to make people aware of effectively control, reduction and prevention of the air pollution and about their responsibilities in this regard.

A draft of Air Pollution Control Rules-2022 has been prepared for effectively controlling and reducing the air pollution and the draft has been sent to the public administration ministry on January 30 for taking the next course of action, he said in the report.

According to the compliance report, there are 112 illegal brick kilns in Dhaka, 11 in Manikganj, 26 in Munshiganj and 123 in Narayanganj.

However, the deputy commissioner of Dhaka told the HC that 128 illegal brick kilns are running in Dhaka after 27 were shut down.

The DC of Gazipur informed the HC that the district has 46 such brick kilns.

The bench of Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam and Md Iqbal Kabir Lytton asked the DCs to submit the lists of illegal brick kilns through swearing affidavits and fixed February 23 for further hearing on the petition.

Deputy Attorney General Kazi Mynul Hasan told The Daily Star that his office would submit the affidavits to the HC next week.   

Manjil Morshed, petitioner of the writ, told The Daily Star that they knew about the brick kilns being operated illegally. "All we wanted to have is the exact number of the kilns and break the hibernation of DoE officials. Now we want the DoE to shut down the kilns."

Sharif Jamil, general secretary of Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon, told The Daily Star that the actual number of the brick kilns was far higher than the number submitted to the court.

Many of the kilns have been built encroaching on Dhaka's river. The coal used at the kilns have high level of toxic sulfur dioxide. They are also destroying the topsoil, which is crucial for rice production, he said.