Own Correspondent: An expedition team of the metro area of Chittagong Environment Department conducted an operation from 11 am to 1.30 pm last Thursday (January 19) against the marketing of banned environmentally destructive polythene in the Khulamia market of Ashadganj and seized 180 sacks of polythene from the warehouses of 5 shops. The weight of which is about 4.5 tons and the price is 7 lakh 92 thousand taka.
A businessman who did not wish to be named told The Crime that Lokman, a cashier in the environment, collects monthly wages from polythene traders in Chittagong city. Two days before the raid, the cashier Lokman asked them for additional contribution, and when the traders expressed their incapacity due to business slump, he left in a rage.
When asked how many tons of polythene was seized in the operation, Hasan Ahmed, assistant director of the Department of Environment, told The Crime, he did not give any answer and requested to speak directly to director Hillol.
Hillol Biswas, director of the Department of Environment, told The Crime that two and a half tons of banned environmentally destructive polythene was seized from Khulamia Market in Ashadganj. When he questioned him about the seizure of 4 and a half tons of polythene, he cut the phone after burning himself with kerosene.
According to the sources, the majority of the polythene seized by the Department of Environment till now was not deposited in the government treasury but sold by a polythene trader Arman’s polythene shop at the head of the three pools of Riazuddin Bazar.
