HC asks govt to report progress on curbing Dhaka air pollution

The High Court on Tuesday asked the government to submit reports to it within 30 days on the progress of implementing the nine directives issued in January to curb the capital’s air pollution by, among others, shutting down the brick kilns in and around the capital, and ban the black smoke-emitting and life-expired vehicles.

The online bench of Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam and Justice Mohammad Ali asked the mayors of the Dhaka North and Dhaka South cities and the Department of Environment to submit the progress report.

The court said that it would monitor whether the directives were being complied with or not.

A different HC bench on January 13 had issued nine directives to the government to curb the capital’s air pollution by shutting down the brick kilns in and around the capital in two months, banning the black smoke-emitting and life-expired vehicles, destroying the life-expired vehicles and defining their valid life spans.

Five of the directives were issued to the two mayors of  the capital, asking them to submit their compliance reports by March.

The five directives included compelling the owners of the markets, shops and houses in the capital to develop their own waste-collection system for the final collection by the two city corporations.           

The court had directed the mayors to ensure that construction materials were covered by the contractors, the dug roads were immediately repaired after the work by the utility services was completed, no uncovered trucks entered the capital, water was sprayed on the roads twice every day.

The court had also directed the DoE to shut down in a month the factories that burned tyres and recycled batteries to earn money and in the process caused harm to public health and the environment.

The court had directed the 16-member high-powered committee of the ministry of environment, forests and climate change to implement in two months its 13 recommendations to reduce the air pollution in the capital and submit its compliance report within two months.

The bench had issued the directive on January 13 while hearing a public interest litigation writ petition filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh in January 2019.

On Tuesday, the High Court directed the respondents to submit the progress reports after hearing a fresh application filed by the rights body on November 15 seeking fresh orders to implement the nine directives.

The rights body’s lawyer Manzill Murshid told the court that the capital’s air quality further deteriorated and the pollution also increased again after the countrywide lockdown for COVID-19 was lifted in May.

 Amatul Karim appeared for the DoE and deputy attorney general Abdullah Al Mahmud Bashar for the state.  

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net