The High Court on Tuesday ordered the Department of Environment and deputy commissioners of five districts to submit a list of the closed down brick kilns around Dhaka, which had been listed as illegal, within two weeks.
The bench of Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam and Justice Mohi Uddin Shamim passed the order after hearing a petition.
Earlier, on April 20, the court asked the deputy commissioners of Dhaka, Narayanganj, Munshiganj, Manikganj and Gazipur and the DoE to appear before the it on Tuesday for not fully complying with its order to shut down illegal brick kilns in Dhaka and its adjacent districts to check air pollution.
Advocate Manzill Murshid stood for the petitioner while Amatul Karim stood for the DoE. Deputy Attorney General Mainul Islam represented the state while Advocate Anik R Haque stood for the brick kiln owners.
“After appearing before the court, the five deputy commissioners said they were able to close 95% of brick kilns, while the DoE director general provided a list of 411 illegal brick kilns in the five districts, of which 65% had been closed. But actually, it is seen that the unauthorized brick kilns are still operating,” said Advocate Manzill Murshid.
On January 21, 2019, Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh, a human rights organization, filed a writ petition seeking steps to close the unauthorized brick kilns.
On January 13, 2020, the High Court issued nine directives and asked to implement them.
Manzill Murshid said the authorities concerned started to take steps against illegal brick kilns from February last year, and after going into operation air pollution started to decrease in the country.
But nowadays Dhaka is again identified as the most polluted city, he said.
On January 30, a supplementary petition was submitted on behalf of the Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh seeking an order to close illegal brick kilns.
On February 1, the High Court summoned the deputy commissioners of the five districts and the DoE director general as they had failed to comply with the court order.
Recently a journalist in an investigative report said many brick kilns in Savar are still continuing their operation but the DCs said they had taken steps to stop their operation, said Manzil.