Govt to intensify grabbed forest land recovery drive

The government is going to intensify its efforts to recover 187,000 acres of illegally occupied forest lands from the grabbers as the ministry concerned already showed some success in this regard.
Until June, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) sent eviction proposals to the deputy commissioners (DCs) until June, 2024 to recover 51,007 acres of occupied land and cleared 30,162 acres as of May last.
"We shall send more eviction proposals to recover the lands from the grabbers," minister Saber Hossain Chowdhury told a press conference at his office in Bangladesh Secretariat on Thursday, sharing the ministry's 78 per cent achievement of its 100-day priority action plan.
He said the ministry would seek assistance from the district administration to recover the occupied forest land.
Talking about the environmental issues, the minister stressed the need for tripling the fine for non-use of effluent treatment plants (ETP) of industries to Tk 300,000 from existing Tk 100,000.
He also informed that the ministry is working to develop an online ETP monitoring system with the help of German GIZ to ensure the effectiveness of the ETPs. Half a dozen online ETP monitoring systems have already been installed on a trial basis to ensure the use of ETPs by industries while around 2,800 ETPs have so far been installed in the country.
The ministry also has moved to implement natural resource mapping to identify and locate natural resources like hills, forest, mountains, wetlands, etc. so that the grabbers cannot occupy natural resources of the country.
The Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS) and the Department of Forest will ink a deal to implement the project, said the minister.
Among the 28 declared priorities for institutional capacity building, pollution control, waste management, environment, forest, environment and biodiversity conservation and combating climate change under the 100-day programmes, 22 have been fully implemented and four have been partially implemented, he said.
If partial implementation is taken into consideration, he said the total implementation rate will be 85 per cent. Despite the initiatives taken, the implementation of two priorities has not been possible.
Secretary of the ministry Dr Farhina Ahmed, additional secretary (Administration) Iqbal Abdullah Harun, additional secretary (Environment) Dr Fahmida Khanom, additional secretary Tapan Kumar Biswas, director general of Department of Environment Dr Abdul Hamid, and deputy chief Conservator of Forest Department Gobinda Roy along with senior officials were present at the press conference.
On the implementation status of the 100-day priority action plan, the minister said at least 581 brick kilns have been raided across the country to prevent air pollution.
Initiatives have been taken to update the Noise Pollution (Control) Rules, 2006, and to formulate 'National Solid Waste Management Framework', he said.
The draft of 'Extended Producer Responsibility' has been finalised with an aim to properly manage the waste generated from the products of the manufacturers and importers.
An initiative has been taken to free the secretariat of 'single use plastic (SUP)', said Mr Chowdhury. Instructions have already been issued to all ministries from the cabinet in this regard.
Two SUP-free school campuses have been implemented in each division to prevent environmental pollution.
Initiative has been taken to formulate an action plan for greening the school-college syllabus to increase the awareness of students on the conservation of environment, forest, and biodiversity.
Initiatives have also been taken to simplify the process of granting environmental clearance, bring green category clearances under 'Self Assessment', update the categories of industrial establishments and projects considering the extent of activities of industrial establishments or projects and the scope, extent of possible pollution caused and possible harmful effects on the environment and human health, said the minister.
The ministry also moved to formulate a 'partnership framework' with development partners, NGOs and CSOs on environment and climate, while a proposal has been sent to the Finance Division and the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to include the 'Clean and Green' theme in the budget.
A draft strategy has been formulated for the implementation of the 'Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan' - the work on finalisation is in progress.

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