The people of Uttar Gosaipur village in Dinajpur Sadar upazila form a human chain in front of the upazila parishad complex yesterday demanding early steps to stop environment pollution by 10 automatic rice mills at the village.
Automatic rice mills allegedly breaching the environmental law have become a nuisance for around five thousand people of Uttar Gosaipur village under Dinajpur Sadar upazila.
The affected people yesterday formed a human chain in front of Dinajpur Sadar upazila parishad complex and submitted a memorandum to the upazila nirbahi officer demanding steps to prevent air, water and sound pollution by 10 automatic rice mills set up at the village.
The mills emit huge quantities of carbon dioxide and ashes into the air, creating an obnoxious situation in the area, the villagers said at the programme.
Eyes of three people of the village got damaged and 10 students of different institutions of the same village are suffering from serious eye injuries due to regular contact with ash particles as the mills do not have arrangement for proper ash management, they said.
High sound made by the mills disturbs study of 1500 students of four educational institutions at the village.
The sound pollution also poses health hazard, especially for the elderly people and children in the area.
Besides, the rice mills generate toxic water that have saturated the lands in the surrounding areas and affected the underground water.
The tube-wells pump out smelly water and people are getting different diseases by using it, said Md Sabuj, a local.
The villagers urged the local administration to force these 10 automatic rice mills to obey the law or suspend their operation in case of failure.
Md Shamim Chowdhury, general secretary of Dinajpur Rice Mills Owner Association, said, “Earlier we urged owners of the 10 rice mills as well as the local administration to develop a drainage system for management of the toxic water produced by the mills. We will visit the mills and make them maintain the rules.”
Source: The Daily Star