United News of Bangladesh

The Department of Environment (DoE) has conducted 778 mobile court drives across the country from January 2 to April 10 this year. During this period, the mobile courts filed 1663 cases against several people, organisations, and fined Tk 24 crore, nine lakh and 50, 100 on various charges, the department said on Friday. The charges included pollution, particularly emitting excessive black smoke, illegal brick kilns, steel mills contributing to air pollution, noise pollution, and hazardous waste discharge, lead/battery recycling factories, landfilling of water bodies, tire pyrolysis, charcoal factories, and the open storage of construction materials causing air pollution. Simultaneously, the chimneys of 438 illegal brick kilns were demolished, effectively ceasing their operations entirely. Stern directives for closure were issued to additional 210 brick kilns. Furthermore, raw bricks at 124 kilns were destroyed, and the electricity connections of 7 brick kilns were disconnected. One individual was also sentenced to one month of simple imprisonment. In a crackdown on lead pollution, equipment for smelting lead/batteries was seized from seven establishments, resulting in the closure of these factories. DoE drives in 7 districts: Tk 17.18 lakh fined Separately, on April 10, 2025, six mobile court operations were conducted in the Dhaka Metropolitan areas of Gulshan-1 & 2, Matuail, Aminbazar, Mohammadpur, and Narayanganj, targeting air pollution caused by construction materials. These drives led to 5 cases and the collection of BDT Two lakh fifty-nine thousand in fines. On the same day, an anti-pollution drive in the Aminbazar area of Dhaka Metropolitan City targeted an illegal lead-acid battery smelting factory. The factory was dismantled, and the lead battery smelting equipment was confiscated. In Gazipur, an operation against the filling of water bodies resulted in a warning issued to one individual, along with a directive to restore the pond to its original condition within five days. Moreover, in Manikganj and Dinajpur districts, two mobile court drives against illegal brick kilns led to 8 cases and the imposition of BDT One lakh ninety thousand in fines. During these actions, the chimney and raw bricks of one brick kiln were demolished, and the electricity connections of six brick kilns were severed. DoE urges Dhaka dwellers to wear masks amid alarming AQI levels The DoE has affirmed its commitment to continuing such anti-pollution drives in the future.

Restaurants in Sylhet will remain shut for an indefinite period from Wednesday in protest against a mobile court drive against substandard food and alleged irregularities by some eateries. During the drive on Tuesday magistrates ordered closure of three eateries for serving substandard food and not having licenses and detained two staff members. The drive led restaurant workers to immediately take to the streets and block the Zindabazar road at the centre of the city for about an hour causing long traffic jam. They demanded that the drive be halted and the detained workers be released immediately. Shanto Deb, President of Sylhet Caterers Owners’ Association said a mobile court drive conducted by Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) on Tuesday sealed Bhojon Bilash restaurant and detained its manager, supervisor while Pach Bhai and Panshi restaurant were fined Tk 80,000 each. Read: Freight transport strike in Sylhet on November 9 and 10 “When the restaurant business has only started recovering from the losses of Covid-19 pandemic, they are harassing the restaurant owners in the name of conducting drives. If there is any problem they can fine but there is no rule of sealing off a restaurant,” he said. From Wednesday all the restaurants in Sylhet will remain shut and the strike will continue until the demands are met, he said. The decision of going on strike was taken at a meeting held at the Sylhet Chamber of Commerce and Industries hall room earlier in the day attended by Sylhet City Corporation Mayor Ariful Haque, President of SCCI ATM Shoeb, leaders of Sylhet Restaurant Owners’ association and Sylhet Caterers Owners’ Association. Meanwhile, Magistrate Palash kumar Bashu who led the drive said, many irregularities were found in the food quality of the fined restaurants. Read: RUB protest: Student on hunger strike tries to kill self in public Bhojon Bilash did not renew their trade license since 2019 and they had no legal documents that authorize them to serve food, he said. “Temporarily we have sealed the restaurant and taken two officials of other restaurants for interrogation,” said the magistrate. Magistrate Palash Kumar claimed in earlier drives they found three to five days old stale foods in these restaurants but they still did not change.

Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Mayor Barrister Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh on Monday said mobile court drives will be conducted to ensure proper maintenance of health guidelines at the cattle markets ahead of Eid-ul-Azha.

Mobile courts in separate drives realized Tk 2.37 lakh in fine from 248 people for not using mask in the last eight days until Tuesday.