Committee formed to assess environmental damage due to S Alam sugar mill fire
The committee has been asked to submit report within seven working days
The Department of Environment has formed a committee to assess the environmental impact caused due to the fire of S Alam sugar mill warehouse in Chattogram.
The committee has been asked to determine compensation amounts and make recommendations for mitigation and prevention measures.
Hillol Biswas, director of environment department, Chattogram region, has been made convenor of the committee.
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Mohammad Mosharraf Hossain (PhD), Professor at Institute of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, Chittagong University and Dr Asiful Haque, Professor at Department of Civil Engineering and director of Institute of River, Harbor and Environmental Sciences, Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology are the specialist members of the committee.
Md Kamrul Hasan, deputy director of environment department, Chattogram Laboratory, is the member while Ferdous Anwar, deputy director of environment department, Chattogram District Office, is the member secretary of the committee.
The committee has been asked to submit report within seven working days.
Burnt raw sugar, along with fire extinguishing chemicals, from the S Alam sugar mill warehouse in Chattogram, where a fire has been raging for the past two days, is falling into the Karnaphuli River, posing an ecological threat there.
The severe pollution caused by burnt sugar has led to a worrying decline in the river's water quality, leading to various fish species dying.
Experts warn of a potential ecological disaster as they say lack of dissolved oxygen due to the sugar contamination may cause damage to aquatic life.
Earlier on Monday (4 March), a fire broke out around 4pm in the warehouse of S Alam Group-owned sugar refinery factory in Chattogram.
