The Department of Environment (DoE) yesterday fined four business organisations Tk 6.5 lakh for causing noise pollution through generators at Gulshan in the capital.
The organisations, housed at Hosna Centre on Gulshan Avenue, are mobile phone operator Banglalink, Nandan Mega Shop, financial institution IPDC of Bangladesh and Hosna Centre authority itself.
A team of DoE conducted the drive following complaints from some locals against the organisations, said Mohammad Munir Chowdhury, director of DoE.
The team also asked the business concerns to take remedial measures including replacing the faulty generators with the new ones by August 14.
Due to the sound pollution, an ailing elderly woman left the area and went to her village home while others complained of their insomnia, said Munir quoting the affected people as saying.
The team carried out noise pollution tests in the generators of four organisations and found that Hosna Centre generator was emitting 101 decibels of noise while Banglalink generator 90 decibels, Nandan 89 decibels and IPDC 81 decibels.
According to the noise pollution control rules, the permissible noise level is 60 decibel in the area, said the DoE director.
The DoE, in separate drives during July, realised Tk 3.58 crore in fine from a total of 40 industries, factories and commercial establishments for violating environmental laws.
The drives were conducted in Dhaka, Tangail, Gazipur, Narsingdi and Munshiganj districts.
The commercial establishments, which were penalised during drives in July, include 22 dyeing factories, one power generation project, seven brick kilns and three factories.
-With The Daily Star input
