Department of Environment (DoE) fined two dyeing factory owners Tk 43 lakh in Gazipur and Narsingdi yesterday for polluting rivers by discharging toxic chemical wastes.
The factories, Unimex Textile Ltd and Masco Exports Ltd, have been running illegally without environmental clearance and effluent treatment plants (ETP). Those were releasing untreated effluents into the Old Brahmaputra and Shitalakkhya rivers for several years, said sources.
An enforcement team led by Mohammad Munir Chowdhury, director of DoE, fined Unimex Tk 34 lakh and Masco Tk 9 lakh for violating environmental laws and destroying the ecology of the rivers, said official sources.
The DoE ordered the factories to suspend production until an ETP is set up within a deadline, said Munir Chowdhury.
In case of failure to comply, the authorities will disconnect utility connections and file case against the owners.
Unimex is located by Dhaka-Mymensingh Road in Sharifpur of Joydevpur and Masco in Palbari under Baghata in Narsingdi.
Unimex has been operating for eight years while Masco for five years.
Unimex dyes 12 metric tonnes of fabrics daily while the other factory does 24,000 pieces of towels daily.
Both are red-category factories, according to the environmental law.
The first one releases deadly liquid wastes in the Shitalakkhya river while the other in the Brahmaputra through drain and canal.
Of the two rivers, Shitalakkhya has already been declared an ecologically critical river.
Confessing to their offence, authorities of both the factories gave undertakings to stop pollution, said Munir Chowdhury.
Source : The Daily Star
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