Under the initiative of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the Department of Environment (DoE) conducted a total of 919 mobile court drives across the country between 2 January and 15 May 2025. These drives targeted vehicles emitting black smoke, illegal brick kilns, air-polluting steel mills, noise pollution, hazardous waste disposal, illegal lead/battery recycling plants, wetland encroachment, tyre pyrolysis units, charcoal factories, and the open storage of construction materials contributing to air pollution.
During this period, 2,136 cases were filed, resulting in the collection of fines amounting to Tk 25,06,93,200 (Twenty-five crore six lakh ninety-three thousand two hundred taka). As part of the operations, 471 brick kilns had their chimneys demolished and were fully shut down, 216 kilns were ordered to cease operations, and raw bricks from 130 kilns were destroyed. Additionally, utility and power connections were cut off from 4 establishments, 1 individual was sentenced to one month of simple imprisonment, and 8 truckloads of lead/battery melting equipment were seized from 6 factories. Those factories were shut down.
Moreover, from 3 November 2024 to date, 396 mobile courts were conducted across Bangladesh against the production, sale, distribution, and marketing of banned polythene. A total of Tk 59,83,300 in fines was collected from 738 establishments, and approximately 1,96,515 kg of illegal polythene was seized.
Separately, on 15 May 2025, 4 mobile courts were conducted in Adabor and Mohammadpur areas of Dhaka, as well as in Rajbari and Jhalokathi districts, under the Air Pollution (Control) Rules 2022. These drives targeted air pollution from coal production by burning wood, resulting in 4 cases and the collection of Tk 2,22,000 in fines.
On the same day, one mobile court in Faridpur targeted illegal brick kilns, filing two cases and collecting Tk 2,00,000 in fines. In Mirpur-1 area of Dhaka, one mobile court fined Tk 11,000 through four cases related to black smoke emission.
Furthermore, in Gazipur, one mobile court filed nine cases for violations of Section 6(Kha) of the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act, 1995 (Amended 2010), for the illegal production, sale, and distribution of banned polythene. A total of 35 kg of polythene was seized. During the drive, awareness messages were also delivered to various super shops, shop owners, and the public.
The Department of Environment will continue such anti-pollution drives in the future. Public awareness and cooperation are essential for protecting the environment.
