The High Court has issued a ruling seeking to know why the inaction of the authorities in taking legal action and the ineffective role of the relevant government agencies in controlling fireworks and lanterns should not be declared illegal.
The bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Md Atabullah issued the ruling on Sunday after hearing a writ petition filed by some environmentalist and animal rights organizations.
The court asked seven people, including the secretaries of the home ministry, Energy and Minerals Resources Division and fisheries and livestock ministry, the inspector general of police, and the Dhaka Metropolitan Police chief, to respond to the ruling within four weeks.
The People for Animal Welfare (PAW) Foundation, Deep Ecology and Snake Conservation Foundation, Save the Nature of Bangladesh, Center for Atmospheric Pollution Studies (CAPS), and Gana Adhikar Foundation filed the writ petition in the High Court on January 11, seeking directives in the control of fireworks across the country.
Despite various legal restrictions, the use of fireworks and sky lanterns on various occasions has recently increased at an alarming rate.
In 2018, the DMP banned sky lanterns. Apart from this, per the Explosives Act, possession of colourful firecrackers is completely prohibited.
According to CAPS, noise pollution owing to fireworks was up 113% on the night of December 31, 2022, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) value reaching up to 500.
Thousands of birds died in the same night, while 200 fires broke out across the country, according to the organization.
