The hydrogen peroxide at Chittagong’s BM Container Depot was not brought through legal means, according to Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Md Shahab Uddin.
“To import chemicals permission from the environment ministry is required. If someone imports without the permission, he or she will be breaking the law,” he said in an interview with the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle on Friday.
Mohammad Shahab Uddin added that a hearing had been called on Thursday. Besides, the Director General of the Department of Environment is monitoring the matter.
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Asked if, according to the environment law, chemicals could be kept in open places, the minister said: “They did not take any permission for the chemicals that were kept at the depot. We would have an account if it had been brought in a legal way.”
Regarding the hydrogen peroxide at Chittagong port auctioned off quickly after the fire, he said: “We were unaware of it.”
Fuel oil containers typically have writing or a different colour on them to indicate their contents, but chemical containers do not. Deutsche Welle questioned the minister on whether so many casualties would have occurred otherwise.
In this regard, the minister said: “We think it should be written on the containers what kind of chemical substances are in it.”
When asked why there was always a kind of secrecy about importing or keeping chemicals, he said: “Those who import illegally will be able to say. If we can bring them to punishment, this tendency will decline.”
