DHAKA: A new Environment Act and Environment Court Act to pave the way for tough punitive actions against polluters will be placed in the next session of the Parliament, State minister for environment and forest Dr. Hasan Mahmud said on Wednesday.
 
He said Department of Environment (DoE) had fined around Tk 2 crore to a number of industries and sealed nine industries for environment pollution.

The DoE also fined a foreign company for not setting effluent treatment plant in their industry, Dr. Hasan said during the launching ceremony of Bangladesh Network for Environmental Governance (BNEG) at National Press Club.

“Bangladesh would not face environmental threats if we could have controlled population growth. Increased population mounted pressure on our resources and decreased cultivatable land,” he said.

Economist and convener of BNEG’s Steering Committee Dr. Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad chaired.

Among others, Vice Chancellor of North South University Prof. Hafiz GA Siddiqi, Canadian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Robert DcDougall, also spoke in the program.  

BDST: 1710 HRS, AUGUST 11, 2010.