Staff Reporter :
The High Court on Wednesday directed the authorities concerned to identify all illegal three-wheeler vehicles running across the country and to take necessary steps to remove them.
In response to a writ petition, the HC bench of Justice Mamnoon Rahman and Justice Khandaker Diluruzzaman came up with the order.
The HC bench also issued a rule asking the government to explain as to why the action of the authorities in restraining the import of three-wheeler easy bikes and its construction in the country should not be declared illegal.
It also asked the authorities concerned to explain as to why the inaction of the respondents in removing the illegal three wheelers from the roads should not be declared illegal.
Industries Secretary, Road Transport and Bridges Secretary, Executive Chairman of Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA), Environment Secretary, Chairman of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), National Board of Revenue (NBR) and Inspector General of Police have been made respondents in the rule.
Advocate Atique Towhidul Islam appeared for the writ petitioner, while Deputy Attorney General Amit Das Gupta represented the state during the hearing on the petition.
Later, lawyer Atique told the reporters that the easy bikes were running illegally charged with battery connection. These easy bikes are harmful to the environment as well for human body.
These bikes are plying in the roads without taking road permit and the government is not getting any revenue from this sector, he noted.
Kazi Zashimul Islam, President of Bagh Eco Motors Limited, filed the writ petition with the HC on December 13 seeking its directives in this regard.
Quoting a published report the writ petition said the food chain in Bangladesh is highly exposed to lead pollution.
The finding comes from a recently-released review of scientific papers published so far on the extremely toxic heavy metal contamination of air, water and soil.
One hundred per cent of vegetables and 70 per cent of fish samples examined for lead contamination – in researches over the years – were found poisoned with lead, said the review published in September in the US-based Journal of Health and Pollution.
Lead can contaminate air, soil and water via many ways, including through vehicle exhaust, fossil-fuel combustion, suspended atmospheric particles, untreated municipal sewage, fertilizer and pesticides, municipal solid waste, mining activities and contaminated animal feed.
The research also claimed that the use of lead-acid batteries has grown exponentially in Bangladesh, particularly over the past decade, due to a rapid increase in the number of vehicles that use lead-acid batteries.
