Govt suspends lease of 17 stone quarries over environmental concerns
Local administrations have been directed to take legal action against the actual responsible persons involved in illegal stone extraction, rather than targeting the workers
Considering environmental factors, the government has decided to suspend the leasing process of 17 out of 51 stone quarries in the country.
No leases will be granted for quarries that are under court injunctions or located within declared Ecologically Critical Areas (ECA), said a press release of the environment ministry.
Additionally, to preserve natural beauty, the leasing activities in the Bhulagonj, Utmachaora, Ratanpur, Bichanakandi, and Lovachora stone quarries of Sylhet district will also remain suspended.
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This decision was at a meeting held today (27 April) at the conference room of the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, chaired by Adviser Muhammad Faozul Kabir Khan.
Environment Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan and Home Affairs Adviser Lieutenant General (Retd.) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury were also present.
The meeting further decided that before granting leases for other quarries, obtaining an Environmental Clearance Certificate from the Department of Environment will be mandatory.
Local administrations have been directed to take legal action against the actual responsible persons involved in illegal stone extraction, rather than targeting the workers.
Additionally, illegally extracted stones must not be sold; instead, they will be supplied for government construction works through customs.
In this regard, the environment adviser thanked the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources and suggested that a similar policy could be adopted to control unregulated sand extraction as well.
She emphasised that such steps would protect the environment and public interest, ensuring the lawful use of natural resources like sand and stones.
Supplying illegally extracted stones through customs for government use would also help curb illegal extraction, she said.
The adviser also mentioned that overcoming previous limitations, the Department of Environment is now better prepared to take appropriate measures to protect the environment and ecosystems.
On 18 February 2020, the Energy and Mineral Resources Division of the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources had suspended stone extraction from all stone quarries until further notice.
Later on 13 January 2025, a decision was made to lift the suspension, which raised concerns from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Consequently, today's meeting resulted in these new decisions.
The meeting was attended by Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Dr Farhina Ahmed, Secretary of the Energy and Mineral Resources Division Mohammad Saiful Islam, Divisional Commissioner of Sylhet Division and Deputy Commissioner of Sylhet District, along with representatives of various ministries and organizations.
