The High Court has ordered illegal brick kilns to be shut down within 15 days in order to reduce air pollution. The bench of Justice FRM Nazmul Ahasan and Justice KM Kamrul Kader gave the order on Tuesday, after the hearing of a petition by a rights organisation.
The court has also ordered the government to carry out mobile court drives in order to shut down the kilns. Moreover, formation of a high-level committees have been ordered to find out why air pollution has increased in Dhaka and formulate a guideline on how to prevent it.
The panel, headed by the environment secretary has been ordered to submit their findings in a month. On Nov 26, Dhaka ranked the worst in Air Quality Index (AQI) yet again. The AQI is an index for reporting daily air quality and tells people how clean or polluted the air of a certain city is, and what associated health effects might be a concern for them.
The capital had a score of 242 around 8am on Tuesday, while air quality is categorized as good when the score remains below 50. On Jan 27, 2019, Advocate Manjil Morshed filed a petition on behalf of Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh regarding the existing air pollution in Dhaka.
The next day the court issued a rule ordering to stop air pollution in the capital as well as take interim measures to prevent it.
The environment directorate chief and chief executive officers of the two city corporations were ordered to file a report after carrying out the order.
