The High Court on Sunday asked the government to fully implement its nine-point directives issued in January 2020 to curb air pollution in Dhaka.
The bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Debasish Roy Chowdhury also asked the authorities concerned to submit reports on the compliance of the order by February 26, the next date of hearing on the matter.
The court passed the order after hearing an application filed by the Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh to address longstanding environmental and public health concerns in the capital, which kept rnaking high among the most polluted cities in the world.
In the nine directives issued on January 13, 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 asked the Dhaka North and South City Corporations and the Rajdhani Unnayan Katripakkha to ensure that construction materials, including sand, mud, cement, and stones, were securely covered by contractors or authorities concerned.
Both the city corporations were asked to spray water regularly to control dust pollution.
They were 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 direrctives 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 transports 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 unapproved battery recycling.
HRPB lawyer Manzill Murshid informed the court that air pollution in Dhaka worsened due to inadequate enforcement of the 2020 directives.
He emphasised that although authorities made initial progress until 2023, the enforcement was stalled, allowing Dhaka鈥檚 air quality to deteriorate further.
He said, 鈥楧haka鈥檚 air pollution often peaks during winter, posing severe health risks, including respiratory issues, especially among vulnerable populations. Effective implementation of the High Court directives is a must to reverse this trend.鈥�
The High Court on Sunday stressed the urgency of compliance with the directives, warning that the failure to act would continue to endanger the health and lives of Dhaka residents.
The High Court on several occasions had expressed dissatisfaction with activities of the Department of Environment as environmental pollution, including river and air pollution, kept worsening.
The court questioned the role of the department in preventing air pollution, doubting any necessity of the department as it failed to play any role in stopping air pollution.
