The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has taken steps to demolish illegal shops and cancel their licenses at the dunes of Cox’s Bazar sea beach.
The ministry on Tuesday sent a letter to the Ministry of Land, asking it to take action against these structures.
According to the ministry, the licenses for these shops were issued unlawfully.
The illegal structures are posing a serious threat to biodiversity and the natural environment of the beach.
According to the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act, 1995, and the Ecologically Critical Area (ECA) Management Rules, 2016, no one is allowed to set up permanent or temporary structures that harm the environment in an ECA area.
The ministry also warned that no such activities should be carried out in the future without approval from the Department of Environment.
Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf sea beach was declared an Ecologically Critical Area (ECA) on April 19, 1999.
The High Court and the Supreme Court have also issued several orders in the past, restricting the construction of establishments along the beach.
Dipankar Bar, Public Relations Officer at the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, confirmed the development in a press release.