Under the initiative of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the Department of Environment (DoE) conducted a total of 919 mobile court drives across the country from January 2 to May 15, 2025.

Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Senior Public Relations Officer Deepkar Bar confirmed the matter on Thursday.

The drives targeted several issues, including vehicles emitting black smoke, illegal brick kilns, air-polluting steel mills, noise pollution, improper hazardous waste disposal, illegal lead and battery recycling plants, wetland encroachment, tyre pyrolysis units, charcoal factories, and the open stockpiling of construction materials that contribute to air pollution.

During this period, 2,136 cases were filed, resulting in fines totaling Taka 25 crore. As part of these efforts, the chimneys of 471 brick kilns were completely demolished, 216 brick kilns were ordered to close, and raw bricks from 130 kilns were destroyed. Additionally, power connections were disconnected from four establishments, one individual received a one-month general imprisonment, and eight trucks of lead and battery melting equipment were seized from six factories that were subsequently shut down.

From November 3, 2024, until now, a total of 396 mobile courts have been conducted across Bangladesh to address the production, sale, distribution, and marketing of banned polythene. Fines amounting to approximately Tk 6 million have been collected from 738 establishments, and about 2 lack kilograms of illegal polythene have been seized.

On Thursday, four mobile courts were held in the Adabor and Mohammadpur areas of Dhaka, as well as in the Rajbari and Jhalakathi districts, targeting air pollution under the Air Pollution (Control) Rules 2022. These efforts focused on air pollution caused by coal production through wood burning, resulting in four cases being filed and fines totaling around Tk 2 lack collected.

Additionally, a mobile court in Faridpur filed two cases against illegal brick kilns, collecting another Tk 2 lack in fines. In the Mirpur-1 area of Dhaka, a mobile court imposed a fine of Tk 11 thousand across four cases related to black smoke emissions.

In Gazipur, a mobile court filed nine cases for violations of Section 6(b) of the Bangladesh Environment Protection Act, 1995 (amended 2010) concerning the illegal production, sale, and distribution of banned polythene, leading to the seizure of 35 kilograms of polythene.

During these operations, awareness messages were also shared with various supermarkets, shop owners, and the public. The Department of Environment plans to continue these anti-pollution drives in the future. Public awareness and cooperation are essential for protecting the environment.