High Court gives authorities 15 days to clear plastic waste from Buriganga riverbank

Bangladesh’s High Court has given authorities 15 days to remove plastic and other waste dumped along the Buriganga River in Dhaka’s Islambagh, Lalbagh and Kamrangirchar areas.

The court also ordered the authorities to submit a compliance report within four weeks. Justices Ahmed Sohel and SM Iftekhar Uddin Mahamud issued the order after hearing a petition from Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh, which cited a Daily Star report published on August 19.

That report described continued dumping along the Buriganga bank in Islambagh, despite a 2010 High Court judgment directing authorities to take measures against pollution. The earlier directives included a ban on dumping plastic and other waste along the riverbank.

Senior Advocate Manzill Murshid, representing the petitioner, told the court that pollution of the Buriganga was seriously affecting Dhaka’s environment. The court instructed the Environment Department’s director general, the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority chairman, Dhaka’s deputy commissioner and police officers in Lalbagh and Kamrangirchar to ensure the waste is removed.

The respondents also include the shipping and home ministry secretaries, the managing director of Dhaka WASA, the commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police and Dhaka’s deputy commissioner. Mohammad Sarwar Ahad Chowdhury filed the application for the rights group on August 30. The state was represented by Deputy Attorney General Khan Ziaur Rahman.