A total of 319 illegal brick kilns are running in Dhaka and four other in neighbouring districts -- Gazipur, Manikganj, Narayanganj and Munshiganj while 95 were shut down through mobile courts conducted by the Department of Environment (DoE).

Director General (DG) of DoE Abdul Hamid presented the information while appearing before a virtual HC bench of Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam and Justice Iqbal Kabir on Wednesday following a writ petition.

Hamid told the High Court that a list of illegal brick kilns had been sent to the court.

However, at the beginning of the hearing, Deputy Attorney General Kazi Mainul Hasan said that the list of all brick kilns had not been received from all five districts. "Once all the lists are received, they will be presented to the court by affidavit."

Later, the court heard the statements of the three deputy commissioners.

Meanwhile, the court directed the state to submit the list of illegal brick kilns in the form of an affidavit and fixed February 23 for the next hearing and order.

When the court wanted to know about the process of conducting mobile court in the brick kilns, the DoE DG said the magistrate remains present during the mobile court. Besides, the law enforcers also help to conduct the mobile courts.

Police force is taken with the DoE team, including Magistrates while conducting mobile court in the districts outside Dhaka, the DG added.

Lawyer Manjil Morshed appeared for the petition while Lawyer Amatul Karim for the DoE, Advocate Md Shahjahan for Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), Advocate Saeed Ahmed Raja for South City Corporation (DSCC) and Advocate Md Moniruzzaman appeared for the Director General of Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defense Department.

On February 1, the court directed all the Deputy Commissioners (DCs) of these five districts to submit the lists connecting virtually today (Wednesday).

But DCs of Dhaka, Gazipur, Manikganj and DoE DG were present at the virtual HC hearing while RDC joined the court on behalf of Munshiganj DC. Meanwhile, Narayanganj DC or any representative on his behalf was not in the court.

Earlier, Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB) filed the writ including a report on air pollution in Dhaka published in a daily on January 21, 2019. The court then ordered the hearing of the writ on January 28 of the same year.

HRPB also pleaded for directives to take necessary steps to prevent air pollution in the capital.

Earlier, on February 4 last year, the High Court had directed the Director General of Fire Service and Civil Defence to take necessary steps to spray water at various points including Gabtali, Jatrabari, Purbachal, Keraniganj and Tongi at the entrance of Dhaka city to prevent air pollution.

However, on January 31, Muniruzzaman, the lawyer of the fire service, said that spraying water as per the court order is being made besides regular work of the fire service. "But we do not have a spraying machine. We just spray water with pipes."