Drive at CEPZ
2 factories fined for pollution
The Department of Environment (DoE) in a drive at Chittagong Export Processing Zone (CEPZ) yesterday fined two industries around Tk 33 lakh for water pollution.
A team of the DoE, led by its Director (enforcement) Munir Chowdhury, made the drive titled “Operation Prevent Environmental Crime” at Sector 7 of CEPZ.
It awarded financial penalty worth Tk 17.28 lakh to Dream Knitting Ltd and Tk 16 lakh to JF Textile.
During the three-hour drive that started around 11:00am, the DoE team found both the industries causing water pollution through disposal of chemical waste without treating them properly.
It was unearthed that untreated chemical and liquid wastes of the two factories ultimately found their way to the Bay of Bengal through the drain and canal of CEPZ, said sources in the team.
The team detected defects in the Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs) of both the factories that are running their business without DoE clearances, they said.
The chemical tests, conducted by the DoE team in presence of the officials of the factories, showed that the dissolved oxygen level in the liquid wastes of Dream Knitting and JF Textile was 1.8 milligram per litre (mg/l) against the standard level of 4.5 mg/l to 8.0 mg/l.
DoE earlier issued cautionary notices to the factory authorities but they took no steps regarding treatment of discharged wastes, said Munir Chowdhury while talking to The Daily Star.
The authorities of the factories, however, informed the DoE team that they have already started to make their ETPs effective, Munir added.
Earlier on July 19, a DoE team fined a foreign dying factory Tk 9.18 lakh for water pollution at CEPZ.