ZCZC
JS-15
ENVIRONMENT-ALLOCATION
Tk 1,221cr proposed for environment ministry
SANGSAD BHABAN, June 3, 2021 (BSS) – Taka 1,221 crore has been proposed for the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in in the fiscal 2021-22, which was Taka 1,246 crore in fiscal 2020-21.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal proposed the budgetary allocation for the ministry while presenting the budget of fiscal 2021-22 at the House today with Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair.
The revised budget of the ministry was Taka 1,036 crore in fiscal 2020-21.
Kamal said to get information on the level of air pollution, 16 round-the-clock air monitoring centres are being set up in Dhaka and other cities of the country.
Information and data collected from this air quality monitoring are stored and analysed scientifically to determine the air quality index, which is published in the website on a daily basis, he said.
To reduce noise pollution, the finance minister said, the Bangladesh Secretariat area has been declared as a horn-free zone.
Besides, to reduce air pollution and control and reduce the use of top soil, priority is being given to the production and use of various blocks made of hollow bricks and clay substitutes in line with the Brick Making and Kiln Installation (Control) Act 2013 (Amended 2019), he mentioned.
Kamal said a circular has been issued to ensure the mandatory use of cent percent eco-friendly blocks instead of bricks by 2025 in government construction, repair and renovation works.
As part of the UNFCCC’s obligation to create and update national greenhouse gas inventories to address the adverse effects of climate change, implementation of the project titled ‘Bangladesh: First Biennial Update Report to the UNFCCC’ is underway, he said.
He said the approval process for the ‘Adaptation Initiative for Climate Vulnerable Offshore Small Islands and Riverine Char Lands in Bangladesh’ project to take adaptive action on small islands and offshore islands along climate vulnerable areas is in progress.
In addition, the finance minister said, the government is going to implement the ‘Developing Bangladesh National Red List of Plants and Developing Invasive Plant Species Management Strategy for Selected Areas Project’, which will create a Red List Index of 1,000 plant species in the country and prepared a management strategy for controlling alien invasive plant species in five selected areas.
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