Department of Environment's rejoinder and our reply

The Department of Environment (DoE) has issued a rejoinder to The Business Standard's 11 July 2025 report titled "Another corruption in AL regime: Souvenirs, campaigns, training eat up half of Tk44cr noise pollution project funds", and its Bangla version, terming the reports misleading and inaccurate.

Signed by Farid Ahmed, project director of the "Integrated and Participatory Project to Control Noise Pollution", the rejoinder argues that the article contains "factual errors" and could mislead the public about the project's scope and implementation.

Our response

The rejoinder claims that the IMED report, on which the story is based, does not support the allegations made. However, the information cited in our report was taken directly from IMED's own evaluation report, which is publicly available.

In response to the DoE's assertion that "no posters or festoons were printed under the project" and "there was no allocation for such items", our report relied on IMED's documented findings. According to the IMED report, Tk17.36 crore was spent on various promotional activities, including the installation of billboards and signboards, media campaigns, and the production of calendars, pen holders, paperweights, and caps.

While the rejoinder claims such items were not part of the project, past awareness efforts under the same project visibly featured posters, festoons, and similar materials. Such items are commonly listed under promotional heads in government projects.

The DoE also refuted the article's claim that certain items were procured at prices five to seven times above market rates – for instance, that a 12-page calendar or a pen holder cost Tk1,000 each. However, these figures were directly cited from the IMED report, which explicitly mentioned those costs. Our article cross-verified them against current market rates and found them significantly inflated.

Regarding real-time noise monitors, the DoE argues that no payment was made as the consultant has not completed the task. However, the IMED report notes that 13 noise monitors were procured for Tk2.34 crore, a claim directly contradicting the rejoinder. The article also cited comments from an official at the IMED-appointed evaluation firm, who stated that many districts lacked awareness materials until just before inspection visits – at which point signboards were hastily erected. This observation, also reflected in the IMED report, states: "The presence of IMED-appointed monitoring team members in the field led to the fresh installation of these billboards."

Although the project director claims all billboard installation was completed by December 2022, the IMED findings contradict this timeline.

The DoE further claims that the journalist met the project director before publication and was given accurate information, but the article still published "misleading content". In reality, during that meeting, when presented with excerpts from the IMED report, the project director alleged that IMED had prepared the report "without consulting" project officials.

Our article was based on a detailed review of IMED's official evaluation, field verification, and on-the-record interviews. If anything, the rejoinder contradicts publicly available documentation.

Even Environment Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan acknowledged that the project had largely failed to curb noise pollution. "No funds were sanctioned during my tenure. The procurements occurred earlier. We are now restructuring the project to ensure broader, multi-sectoral stakeholder engagement," she said.

Therefore, we stand by our report.