The government has failed to stop the use of banned polythene bags in and around the capital due to lack of a proper monitoring system, sources said. A section of employees in the department of environment (DoE) is reportedly responsible for the manufacture and marketing of polythene bags. It is alleged that the alarming rise in the use of such bags is due to the unholy alliance among DoE employees, the police and the manufacturers. Traders in most of the markets across the country wrap food or other items in polythene bags. This is done under the very nose of law enforcers who allow the practice in exchange for a “commission”, which is also shared by DoE monitors, sources said.
Green activists expressed concern and wondered how these prohibited items are openly used. Such bags are not only hazardous to soil fertility but also for aquatic life in the countryside. Indiscriminate use of these bags has clogged drains in the cities, they added. Besides poly bags, nylon bags, which are equally environmentally hazardous, are being produced across the country, the green activists alleged.
These harmful and prohibited bags are being manufactured in large numbers ahead of Eid-ul-Azha. They are mainly manufactured in the city’s Lalbagh, Islambagh, Kamalbagh, Shahidnagar, Debidasghat, Khajedewan, Killarmor, Begumbazar, Chawkbazar, Kamrangirchar, Barokatra, Chotokatra, Rahmatganj, Karwanbazar, Faridabad, Zinjira, Tejgaon, Mitford and Mirpur areas. Polythene bags are also produced in the 30 district towns, including Gazipur, Comilla, Rajshahi, Khulna and Chittagong. These bags are being produced illegally in the name of packaging of salt, garments and sugar, the sources said. A polythene bag manufacturer can easily produce polythene bags by procuring a machine at a cost of about Tk. 5 lakh. As many as 250 poly bag-producing factories are located in the Lalbagh area.
A poly bag producer said on condition of anonymity: “Many factories have changed their addresses, making it difficult for the law enforcers to locate them.” Sources said polythene bags worth crores of takas are being traded in Begumbazar, Chawkbazar and Moulvibazar markets in the old Dhaka city every day.
On January 1, 2002, the BNP-led four-party government imposed a ban on production, marketing and use of polythene (having a thickness below 100 micron) in Dhaka, followed by a nationwide ban on April 8 the same year.
Under the Environment Conservation Act, 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment, or a maximum fine of Tk. 10 lakh or both, is given for manufacturing and marketing of polythene shopping bags. The sentence can be given only by the Environmental Court.
Md Golam Rabbani, director general of DoE, told The Independent on Friday that they are regularly conducting raids on polythene bag producers. “We are determined to stop the production and marketing of polythene bags. Our enforcement team is conducting operations against violators with the help of law-enforcement agencies,” he added. Replying to a query, the DoE chief said stern action will be taken if any DoE employee is found guilty.
The chairman of Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon (BAPA), Abu Naser Khan, said most of these polythene bags are recycled from discarded poly bags, which is extremely hazardous to public health. Polythene shopping bags were introduced in Bangladesh in the 1980s, discarding the jute bags, he said.
He also said that the law banning poly bags was not executed properly. “The government seems to be least interested in popularising jute bags to replace poly bags. Poly bags entered the market again during the last caretaker government’s regime”.
-With The Independent input
