The High Court on Thursday issued a fresh directive to the authorities to enforce its nine-point directives issued in January 2020 to curb air pollution in Dhaka.
The bench of Justice Md Rezaul Hasan and Justice Urmee Rahman instructed the authorities concerned to submit reports on the compliance with the order by November 30, the next scheduled date of hearing on the matter.
The court passed the fresh directive after Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh鈥檚 lawyer Manzill Murshid had prayed for a necessary order to address environmental and public health concerns in Dhaka, which kept ranking high among the most polluted cities in the world.
On January 13, another bench directed the government to implement the nine environmental directives by February 26, the date set for the next hearing.
Manzill Murshid said that Dhaka鈥檚 air quality had improved in 2024 due to several measures taken in line with those directives.
He, referring to a study published in several newspapers, added that various health risks had recently increased as harmful particles have again polluted the air due to the inaction of the authorities to enforce the directives.
In the nine directives issued on January 12, 2020, the High Court asked the police to ensure that all trucks, carriers, or vehicles transporting sand, mud, dust, or waste were properly covered to prevent spillage.
It had asked the Dhaka North and South City Corporations and the Rajdhani Unnayan Katripakkha to ensure that construction materials were securely covered by contractors or authorities concerned.
Both the city corporations were asked to spray water regularly to control dust pollution.
They were asked to oversee road construction and excavation projects to ensure strict compliance with laws, tender terms and environmental guidelines.
The two city corporation were also asked to ensure that market owners and shopkeepers stored daily waste in safe bags for disposal by the city corporations.
The directives tasked the police with seizing vehicles emitting black smoke beyond the permissible limit.
The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority was asked to set the economic lifespan at 20 years for public transport and 25 years for goods vehicles as per section 36 of the Road Transport Act 2018 and stop the operation of vehicles beyond the lifespan.
The section empowers the BRTA to set the economic lifespan for all motorised vehicles.
The directives asked the Department of Environment to shut down all illegal brick kilns in two months, immediately halt tyre burning without environmental clearance, and stop unapproved battery recycling.
