The government is taking action against polythene producers as it is harmful to humans, said Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Md Shahab Uddin on Monday.

“Mobile courts are being run against production, transportation, marketing and storage of banned polythene bags. From January 2019 to February 2023, a total of 2,198 raids were conducted and 3,617 cases were filed and 169 persons were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment and 1,745 metric tons of polythene, grains and raw materials were seized,” he said.

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The minister was speaking at the opening ceremony of the “World Environment Day and Environment Fair 2023” and “National Tree Planting Campaign and National Tree Fair 2023” at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre.

“Let us all collect saplings, plant trees in fallen and unused vacant areas around. Build a healthy and beautiful world for us,” he said.

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Minister of Information and Broadcasting Dr Hasan Mahmud attended the event as the chief guest. Environment, Forest and Climate Change Deputy Minister Habibun Nahar and Md Saber Hossain Chowdhury, President of the Standing Committee of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, were present as special guests.

The environment fair will be held from June 5-11. The tree fair will run from June 5-26 and from July 1 to 12 as there is an official holiday from 27 to 30 June for the Eid-ul-Azha. The fair will start at 9:00 am and end at 8:00 pm every day.

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