Online Desk  :   Strict legal actions will be taken against polythene bag manufacturers from Sunday (November 3) to protect the environment. Tapan Kumar Biswas, additional secretary (Environmental Pollution Control), informed the media while conducting a monitoring drive at a market on Friday morning in an effort to curb the use of banned polythene shopping bags. The ban on using polythene bags in all markets began on November 1. A team comprising of the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change and the Department of Environment inspected Mohammadpur Agricultural Market and several nearby supermarkets in the capital.

Biswas said instructions have also been issued to all district Deputy Commissioners and Department of Environment field officers to ensure compliance. Although mobile courts will not operate on November 1 and 2 due to the weekend, monitoring will continue, he said. He also urged public cooperation in eliminating polythene bag use. The monitoring committee urged shoppers to use jute and cloth bags instead of polythene and instructed the vendors to stop using polythene bags, with a warning that strict actions would be taken if polythene bags are found during future inspections.

Joint Secretary Mohammad Rezaul Karim, Deputy Secretary Rubina Ferdousi, and Environment Department Directors Rajinara Begum and Mohammad Masud Hasan Patwari and concerned officials were also present as part of the monitoring committee. On September 24, interim government advisor on environment, forest, and climate change, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, announced that from November 1, all types of plastic bags would be prohibited, and no customer should be given such bags.  Earlier, from October 1, plastic bags were banned in supermarkets, and now this ban extends to fresh markets.  Plastic bags were first banned in 2002, but for nearly two decades, the ban had little impact due to insufficient enforcement.