The use of banned polythene is increasing day by day in Bangladesh
Banned polythene’s use is increasing daily in grocery stores, fish, meat, vegetables, eggs, curry, fruit, and sweet shops. It is polluting the environment and damaging agricultural land.
The Bangladesh government banned the use of polythene shopping bags in 2002 for the sake of environmental protection. According to the production, import, marketing, sale, and display for sale, storage, and distribution of all types of shopping bags made of polyethylene prohibit.
In case of violation, there is a provision of imprisonment and a fine. But Polythene shopping bags are being sold country-wise under the nose of the administration of Bangladesh in violation of this law.
Branch Hasan Yusuf Khan, General Secretary of Poribesh Bachao Andolon (POBA), Gazipur District, commented, “Although the polythene bag in the market seems small, it has a thousand harmful aspects.
We have constantly been agitating and struggling with this, but even then, it does not work. Everything, including fish, meat, vegetables, eggs, betel nuts, and fruit, is sold in polythene bags. Various roadside shops and markets provide polythene bags separately for vegetables, fish, and meat.
Md. Harun, a vegetable seller in Joydevpur market, said, “In most cases, customers do not bring any bags. So, I have to provide them; otherwise, they not buy my vegetables.”
However, customers claim they rely on polythene bags as bags are available in the shops.
A buyer named Md. Kibria said, “After buying groceries, shopkeepers pack them with polythene bags. If they stop providing polythene bags, we will become aware.”
Sharif Jamil, the coordinator of WATERKEEPERS BANGLADESH, said in the press conference, “This country is a riverine country, and rivers are a part of the existence of the people of Bangladesh; the river is part of the festival of the people of this country also.
So, this arrangement is to protect the river through the festival. Balu River has become a backwater for human settlements today; people cannot cultivate fish there, and none use this river’s water for agricultural purposes.
Therefore, the river festival has been organized to demand a pollution-free river by involving the people of the Balu riverside. Balu and other rivers of Dhaka are polluted and encroached on.
A responsible river commission is needed to make the river pollution-free and free from encroachment, and therefore the river commission should be made an independent institution.
At the press conference, Professor Dr. Ahmad Kamruzzaman Majumder, the chairman of the Department of Environmental Science at Stamford University, said,
“River protection work should be a part of daily work. Those who live beside the river are the prime protector. Therefore, such an arrangement is essential.”
