UNB, Dhaka :
Rejecting the Finance Minister’s ‘eco-tax’ proposal aiming to bring down water pollution, green activists on Friday said such tax will only legitimise pollution and destroy water resources.
“If the eco-tax is introduced, the government in principle will acknowledge the pollution, which will make the pollution rampant. The existing environmental law will be ineffective,” Engr Inamul Haque, former director general of River Research Institute, told UNB.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith, in his budget speech on Thursday, proposed imposing one percent ‘Environment Protection Surcharge’ on ad-valorem basis on all kinds of products manufactured by polluting industries.
Inamul Haque, also former director general of Bangladesh Hoar and Wetlands Development Board, said the government should take effective steps to force the industrialists to set up effluent treatment plants (ETPs) in their industries to protect rivers from pollution.
“But, we’ve observed that there has been no effective step to check industrial pollution to protect the country’s water bodies,” he said.
Haque urged the government to amend the existing environmental law inserting a provision in it to empower to the local government bodies so that their representatives can file case against polluters and fine them.
General secretary of Bangladesh Paribesh Andolan (Bapa) Dr Abdul Matin said the proposal to impose one percent green tax on polluters will not help protect water bodies.
“Ultimately, the polluters will pay the tax realising it from customers and consumers, and keep on polluting the environment,” he said.
Matin suggested imposing such eco-tax on polluters at an ‘increasing rate’ setting a deadline to stop pollution, and if the polluters fail to end pollution within the given time, the government should seal their industries off.
“If the government’s aim is only to collect revenue by imposing tax, this won’t help,” he said.
The rivers surrounding Dhaka city-Buriganga, Turag, Bangshi, Balu and Shitalakhya-and Karnaphuli in Chittagong have turned highly polluted in recent years due to unchecked dumping of industrial and household wastes in the rivers.
Muhith, in his budget speech, said industrial effluent and waste from urban sewage are severely contaminating the river waters and taking heavy toll on the aquatic environment and its surroundings. “Eco-tax will be imposed on the polluters to get rid of this situation,” he said.
Referring to the severe pollution of the rivers, the Finance Minister said the government has prepared a draft instruction manual with guidelines to protect the environment and control pollution of the Buriganga, Shitalakhya, Balu and Turag rivers, which are ecologically critical water bodies.
Rejecting the Finance Minister’s ‘eco-tax’ proposal aiming to bring down water pollution, green activists on Friday said such tax will only legitimise pollution and destroy water resources.
“If the eco-tax is introduced, the government in principle will acknowledge the pollution, which will make the pollution rampant. The existing environmental law will be ineffective,” Engr Inamul Haque, former director general of River Research Institute, told UNB.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith, in his budget speech on Thursday, proposed imposing one percent ‘Environment Protection Surcharge’ on ad-valorem basis on all kinds of products manufactured by polluting industries.
Inamul Haque, also former director general of Bangladesh Hoar and Wetlands Development Board, said the government should take effective steps to force the industrialists to set up effluent treatment plants (ETPs) in their industries to protect rivers from pollution.
“But, we’ve observed that there has been no effective step to check industrial pollution to protect the country’s water bodies,” he said.
Haque urged the government to amend the existing environmental law inserting a provision in it to empower to the local government bodies so that their representatives can file case against polluters and fine them.
General secretary of Bangladesh Paribesh Andolan (Bapa) Dr Abdul Matin said the proposal to impose one percent green tax on polluters will not help protect water bodies.
“Ultimately, the polluters will pay the tax realising it from customers and consumers, and keep on polluting the environment,” he said.
Matin suggested imposing such eco-tax on polluters at an ‘increasing rate’ setting a deadline to stop pollution, and if the polluters fail to end pollution within the given time, the government should seal their industries off.
“If the government’s aim is only to collect revenue by imposing tax, this won’t help,” he said.
The rivers surrounding Dhaka city-Buriganga, Turag, Bangshi, Balu and Shitalakhya-and Karnaphuli in Chittagong have turned highly polluted in recent years due to unchecked dumping of industrial and household wastes in the rivers.
Muhith, in his budget speech, said industrial effluent and waste from urban sewage are severely contaminating the river waters and taking heavy toll on the aquatic environment and its surroundings. “Eco-tax will be imposed on the polluters to get rid of this situation,” he said.
Referring to the severe pollution of the rivers, the Finance Minister said the government has prepared a draft instruction manual with guidelines to protect the environment and control pollution of the Buriganga, Shitalakhya, Balu and Turag rivers, which are ecologically critical water bodies.
