Wilful ETP shutdown will lead to higher penalties: Saber 

Industries found to have wilfully shut down their Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs) will be slapped with higher penalties, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Saber Hossain Chowdhury warned on Thursday. 

"Many factories intentionally keep their ETPs closed as the amount of fines is lower than the money saved by keeping the ETP shut down," Saber Hossain said while announcing a 100-day priority action plan at the ministry's conference room at the Secretariat on Thursday 

"In this way, many are legalising their illegal activities by paying fines only. Some industries always keep their ETPs turned off only to start them sensing the presence of inspectors. This will not be allowed to continue," he added. 

Penalties for the wilful shutdown of the effluent plants will be increased by three to four times from the present level alongside putting in place an online monitoring to oversee whether the industries are running as per rules, according to the minister.  

100-day plan

In the 100-day plan, the environment minister announced initiatives for institutional capacity building, pollution control, waste management, preserving environment, forest and biodiversity, and addressing adverse effects of climate change.

He has a plan to declare the Secretariat free of single-use plastic goods like plastic bottles, plates and cups by these 100 working days. 

By this time, initiatives will be taken to make other government offices, two school campuses in each division single-use plastic free apart from taking steps for introducing two zero-waste villages in each division to prevent environment pollution.  

Citing that half of the country's total waste is generated by the single-use plastic goods, Saber talked about his ministry's plan to formulate 'National Waste Management Framework" and an Action Plan to reduce production and consumption of single-use plastic goods. The draft of 'Extended Producer Responsibility' will also be finalised for proper waste management. 

The minister noted that a proposal for recovery of some 50,000 acres of the grabbed forest land will be prepared alongside implementing the ministry's previous proposal for recovering another 1.87lakh acres of forest land. 

Initiatives will also be taken to formulate action plans for greening the syllabus and textbooks of schools and colleges.

By 2028, the use of bricks will be reduced to zero by replacing them with concrete blocks

Different local government bodies will use the block in some 20,000 km roads in the next fiscal year, Saber Hossain said, adding that 13 crore tonnes of topsoil is used for brick making every year, reducing soil fertility.

Bangladesh government eyes to mobilise $15 billion cooperation from the development partners in the next five to fight climate impacts. 

"The plan is ambitious, though. But not impossible. This money is needed. Because Bangladesh needs to invest $8 billion every year to deal with the impact of climate change. But the government can fund 3.5 billion dollars for 24 line ministries. As a result, the remaining $4.5 billion will have to come from development partners," Saber Hossain pointed out.  

He said that changes will be made to the policy of the climate trust fund and that more allocation will be kept from this fund for those who are more affected.