তথ্য অধিকার আইন

The Daily Star, Tuesday November 15, 2022

Shamsul Bari and Ruhi Naz

Syed Fazle Rabbi Dollar, a resident of Bogura, has been concerned about the harmful effect of the rampant use of nitric acid on the environment and its abuse by criminals. He has been particularly bothered by its uncontrolled use at more than 500 jewellery shops/workshops in his city. He learnt that 400 of these enterprises had no licence at all to use nitric acid in their workshops. And yet, all of them used it indiscriminately to dissolve solid metals such as gold, silver and bronze, causing health hazards and emitting foul smells. Nitric acid can lead to breathing problems and severe asthmatic attacks. The liquid discharge from the acid used in these workshops passes through drains to end up in the nearby Karatoa River, poisoning its water and killing fish and other living organisms.

To make things worse, as obtaining acid was relatively easy, acid-related crimes, including acid attacks on people, were on the rise. Efforts by the local community to draw the local administration’s attention towards the problem produced little result. So, an exasperated Fazle Rabbi finally decided to submit a Right to Information (RTI) request to the Office of the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Bogura on July 31, 2022. He sought information on how many business entities/workshops were issued licences to use nitric acids, whose licences were renewed, and the number of those who had licences to sell and transport acids. And then he waited. Read More…