The department of Environment under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has realized over Tk 24 as fine conducted a robust nationwide anti-pollution campaign from January 2, 2025, to April 10, 2025.
The robust operation targeted multiple sources of environmental pollution, including vehicles emitting excessive black smoke, illegal brick kilns, polluting steel mills, sources of noise pollution, hazardous waste discharges, lead-acid battery recycling factories, landfilling of water bodies, tire pyrolysis units, charcoal factories, and the open storage of construction materials contributing to air pollution, said a press release.
A total of 778 mobile court drives were carried out across the country during this period.
These stringent enforcement actions led to 1,663 cases being filed, with fines totaling Tk 24.9 crore imposed and recovered. As part of the crackdown, the chimneys of 438 illegal brick kilns were demolished, effectively shutting down their operations. Closure notices were issued to an additional 210 kilns, raw bricks were destroyed at 124 sites, and electricity connections were severed at seven kilns. One individual received a one-month simple imprisonment sentence for environmental violations.
In efforts to curb lead pollution, smelting equipment was seized from seven lead-acid battery recycling factories, which were subsequently shut down.
On April 10 alone, six mobile court drives were conducted in various areas of Dhaka Metropolitan City—Gulshan-1 and 2, Matuail, Aminbazar, Mohammadpur, and Narayanganj—targeting air pollution caused by open storage of construction materials. These operations resulted in five cases and fines amounting to Tk 2.59 lakh.
That same day, an illegal lead-acid battery smelting factory in the Aminbazar area was dismantled, and its smelting equipment was confiscated.
In Gazipur, a drive targeting the illegal filling of a water body resulted in a warning issued to the violator, along with an order to restore the pond to its original condition within five days.
Additionally, in Manikganj and Dinajpur districts, two mobile court drives targeting illegal brick kilns led to eight cases and fines totaling Tk 1.9 lakh. One kiln’s chimney and raw bricks were demolished, while electricity connections to six kilns were disconnected.
The Department of Environment has reaffirmed its commitment to continuing such anti-pollution drives to protect the environment and public health.