The government yesterday slapped Tk92 lakh worth of fines on three companies for polluting the environment.
The largest individual fine of Tk50 lakh was handed to Digital Power & Associates, a power generating company which is a sister concern of Orion Group located at Narayanganj’s Fatullah.
Fines worth Tk37 lakh was also handed to Nowab Abdul Malek Jute Mills (BD) Ltd located at Kanchpur in Narayonganj, while Ayman Textile and Hosiery Ltd at Chnadra in Gazipur was fined Tk5 lakh.
Md Alamgir, director (enforcement) of the Department of Environment (DoE), handed the penalties to the companies as all of them had been violating the environment rules and regulations while carrying out their productions.
The DoE handed the penalties yesterday at a hearing at the department’s office in the capital’s Agargaon area.
Regarding the penalty to Digital Power & Associates, the DoE said the company had started its infrastructure development without having any site clearance from the environment department, which was mandatory for a red category industry.
In addition, the company did not maintain the mandatory regulation of having environment impact assessment (EIA), although it had already completed about 95% of its infrastructure development, the DoE added.
It is mentionable that the chemical affluent of heavy fuel oil – that is used in the plant generation industries – devastates bio-diversity by polluting the earth and water.
The enforcement department of the DoE also fined Tk37 lakh to Nowab Abdul Malek Jute Mill for operating its production without an environmental clearance and for having an inadequate number of dust collectors.
The DoE also handed a Tk5 lakh fine to Ayman Textiles as the company had been operating without any effluent treatment plant.