The Department of Environment (DoE) is set to take legal actions against brick kilns in 16 north-western districts, which had previously been identified as environmentally hazardous.
Md Abdul Mazid, division director of the department in Bogra, said the DoE has decided to launch legal actions against more than a thousand brick kilns from July.
“Several hundred brick kilns owners were notified to modify their factories from the old system to environment-friendly designs like Zigzag and Hoffman, but most of them have yet to respond,“ said Mazid.
Bogra District Brick Owner’s Association President Md Abul Kalam Azad, however, said they had filed a writ petition few months ago against the government decision, as the kiln owners had already spent a huge amount of money building 120 feet of traditional Fixed Chimney Kiln (FCK) as per a previous government order.
“The department had given them a chance to modify FCK to Zigzag or Hoffman kilns few years ago by depositing Tk2 lakh,” Azad said, but added that most kilns owners were not interested to deposit the amount as their kilns were constructed in accordance with a previous a government rule.
Over the past few months, the DoE has shut down production in 72 brick kilns in the northern districts for violating rules, sources said.
According to the department, at least 1,065 FCKs were polluting the environment in Rangpur and Rajshahi divisions, while at least 49 Zigzag kilns out of a total of 424 were running without any environmental clearance certificate.
Md Mostfizur Rahman Akhand, deputy director of the DoE, said the department would begin taking legal steps against more than 1,200 kilns after June this year for violating rules.
The department has banned all brick kilns in the municipality and city corporation areas under an existing act, DoE sources said, adding that the remaining brick kilns would have to be removed by June 30.