Toxic wastes from a used oil recycling factory in BSCIC Shilpa Nagari (industrial area) in Habiganj is polluting the environment and harming croplands surrounding the factory despite recurring protests by the locals.
Locals said since the factory Prominent Lube Limited was established in 2010, their lands were becoming barren, and trees, cattle and poultry were dying in the areas near the factory.
They also complained that the people living in the nearby villages were suffering from different health problems because of the toxic wastes emanating from the factory.
Sources said the factory was closed down for a few days after the locals made a complaint to the Department of Environment, but later again it resumed production.
The locals staged several processions demanding shutting down of the factory. Recently, the locals laid a seize to the factory and organised a meeting protesting the factory’s waste dumping in the fertile lands.
Md Yunus Ali, owner of a different factory in the industrial area, said they were suffering a lot of problems because of the toxic wastes coming from the factory. Their lands were becoming more and more infertile and the environment was getting polluted, he added.
Ambar Ali, an inhabitant of Dhuliakhali village in Habiganj Sadar upazila, said pedestrians cannot go through areas surrounding the factory without covering their noses because of the stench generated by the factory. The villagers want the factory closed down immediately, he added.
Assistant Manager of Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) in Habiganj Muhsin Kabir Khan said the authorities took steps when the factory was releasing toxic wastes and generating stench, but now it was not doing anything to threaten the environment now.
Muhsin also said complaints made by the locals were baseless. The factory has proper drainage facilities for waste disposal and it was not posing any threat to croplands.