21 factories fined Tk25 lakhs for polluting Karnaphuli

The Department of Environment (DoE) has fined 21 businesses a cumulative of around Tk25 lakhs since June last year for polluting the Karnaphuli River and connecting canals by dumping chemical wastes. These factories have violated the environmental laws by either not installing Effluent Treatment Plants (ETP) or using faulty ETPs and by polluting the river and surrounding environment, said DoE Assistant Director Sangjucta Das Gupta. The wide range of factories include sea-food processing ones, readymade garments factories, oil refineries, glass, washing and dyeing factories, paper mills and tanneries. Among them, the big names include Meghna Seafood Ltd, Chowdhury & Company (BD) Ltd, Samdani Wash, Asia Pacific, Fabian and Chittagong Waste Treatment Plant Ltd (CWTPL). Sangjucta told the Dhaka Tribune that stern measures needed to be taken against such errant businesses regularly. “Round the clock monitoring is not possible as we are low on manpower. But, we are still trying.” She said, “These factories were fined for a number of offences including operating without installing ETPs, keeping ETPs inactive or shut, and setting up defective ETPs.” All these companies, however, have paid their fines in full, Sangjucta said. Various types of wastes, including solid, liquid and medical, are the main reasons behind the pollution of the Karnaphuli. The DoE collects samples from two points of the river each month for testing. Their results have shown that the average dissolved oxygen (DO) level has been between 4.8 and 5.5 from January 2015 to June 2017. This is worrisome since the level of DO should not be under 4.0. The DO level in the Karnaphuli most of the time remains near 4, threatening to endanger the underwater biodiversity. DoE has also found that the level of DO in the canals connected to Karnaphuli is nearly zero at most times. Based on these facts, the DoE in a report recently has proposed some recommendations to protect the Karnaphuli River, which include having one of their teams set up a Remote Sensing System to monitor liquid waste disposal. It recommended shifting all industrial establishments from the river bank. Also, the liquid waste from these factories can be filtered through a Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP), once installed.