Chittagong: The Department of Environment (DoE) sued two ship-breaking yards at coastal belt of Sitakunda upazila, Chittagong yesterday for dismantling ships without DoE clearance and polluting environment.
DoE investigator Saiful Ashraf filed the cases against -- Mak International and MM Ship-breaking Industry of Shitalpur and Jahanabad with Sitakunda Police Station and the Environmental Court.
Saiful alleged that the yards were set up without environment clearance or required mitigation measures and facilities for removing liquid and solid hazardous waste during cleaning and dismantling the ships.
"None of the ship-breaking yards of Sitakunda have clearance certificates by the DoE," he said.
Owners of Mak International dismantled two ships -- MV Badri and MT Bow on September 16 one of which was dismantled at a rented yard of MM Ship-breaking Industry, informed DoE Director Md Zafar Alam.
"A portion of the MV Badri was found in a dismantled state," he said adding, "Process is under way to seize both the ships to provide evidence for the cases".
The accused individuals in the case against Mak International include the yard owners Joynal Abedin, Jamil Abedin, Mohammad Alauddin and the manager Firoz Ahmed.
In another case the accused include three owners of Mak International and owners of MM Ship-breaking, Monwara Begum, her husband Abu Mohsin and manager Jahangir Alam.
Nine out of 122 ship-breaking yards of Sitakunda coastal belt were sued since April 21 this year. [21/09/10]
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