The High Court on Monday ordered the authorities concerned to demolish all illegal brick kilns in five districts including Dhaka within next two weeks to reduce air pollution. An HC bench of Justice KM Kamrul Kader and Justice Muhammad Ali passed the order after hearing a petition in this regard. The court ordered the Director General of Department of Environment (DoE) to submit a report after evicting all the illegal brick kilns in Dhaka, Munshiganj, Narayanganj, Manikganj and Gazipur within the timeframe. Expressing resentment to all government departments concerned over their failure to reduce the air pollution of the Dhaka, the court asked, “Why has the capital been ranking  in the top or near the top in the list of the most polluted cities of the world for the past few days if effective measures were taken as per our directives?”  “We are not satisfied with your steps taken abiding by our directives,” the HC said. The court said water is not sufficiently sprayed to reduce the air pollution along with the nuisance of the dengue mosquito. The HC also asked the city corporations to take care of the problems. Counsel Amatul Karim stood for the DoE; senior lawyer Manzil Morshed represented the writ petitioner while Deputy Attorney General Abdullah Al Mahmud Bashar stood for the state. Earlier in 2020, the HC gave a nine-point directive to address the air pollution. The directives are given below. 1.    The trucks carrying sand and earth operate by covering with protection in the capital. 2.    Contractors will have to cover the construction sites where works are on. 3.    Steps will have to be taken to spray water in the areas where water is not spayed properly. 4.    Apply the rules and regulations, terms and conditions in the areas where mega projects by             roads and carpeting works are going on. 5.    Seize the vehicles which emit black smoke. 6.    Fix the economic life of the vehicles plying on the roads and impose embargo on the obsoleted ones as per the Road Transport Act-2018. 7.    Submit report after demolishing the brick kilns which are running without licenses. 8.    Stop burning tyres and recycling batteries without permission from the DoE. 9.    The city corporations will have to remove the garbage from markets and shops after closing those. Read more: Around 60 percent brick kilns are operating illegally: Minister The lawyer Manzil Morshed filed a petition seeking directives to implement the nine-point order on January 30, this year. On January 31, the HC wanted to know about what measures taken by the authorities concerned to reduce the air pollution. Later, the DoE submitted its report on February 26 following the HC order. The court later gave two weeks to the DoE to execute the directives.

The government of Bangladesh has taken a decision to provide bank loans on easy terms to those involved in producing environment-friendly bricks, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Shahab Uddin said today (January 25, 2023). The environment minister said this while talking to reporters after a meeting with deputy commissioners at Osmani Memorial Auditorium in Dhaka. The meeting also discussed protecting forests and actions of DCs to combat climate change impacts, he said. He also sought assistance from the DCs in stopping hill cutting, deforestation, establishment of illegal brick fields and soil cutting. The DCs were asked to take legal steps in this regard. Read More: COP27: Bangladesh prioritises realisation of green climate fund, Environment Minister tells UNB Replying to a question on any proposal coming from DCs, the minister said there are only 50 offices under the Department of Environment (DoE) in the 50 districts while the ministry has no office in the rest 14 districts. He also assured of establishing offices in the 14 districts. Besides, the DCs have been asked to stop operation of illegal brick kilns as the government has taken an initiative to use environment-friendly bricks for government structures by 2025. “The more we can provide eco-friendly bricks, the more we can stop production of illegal brick kilns. If we are able to meet the demand with eco-friendly block bricks, the old illegal brick kilns can be stopped,” he said. Read More: 2022 was fifth or sixth warmest on record as Earth heats up