The Department of Environment (DoE) yesterday fined a dyeing factory of Sadmusa Group in Chittagong Tk 30.75 lakh for polluting the Halda river.
In a surprise visit on Sunday, a DoE team found that there were technical faults in the effluent treatment plant (ETP) of MA Rahman Dyeing Ltd in Jalalabad and that the factory was releasing liquid waste into the river through canals and drains.
The team, led by Director (enforcement) Mohammad Munir Chowdhury, also collected sample of the factory's liquid waste and found high presence of hazardous materials in it.
The DoE director summoned the factory Managing Director Mohammad Mohsin to Dhaka and asked him to fix the technical problems of the ETP immediately.
The factory authorities assured the DoE officials of taking all-out efforts to stop the pollution, said a DoE release.
Contacted, Mohsin claimed that the waste the DoE had collected was not released by their factory but by a tannery.