Rice mill owner served notice; tenant fined Tk 50,000

A legal notice has been served to the owner of a rice mill in Lalmonirhat, where over 100 birds were poisoned to death recently, for running the mill illegally while its tenant was fined Tk 50,000 for his involvement in poisoning the birds.

The Department of Environment (Rangpur) yesterday served the notice to Abul Kashem asking him to explain why the mill was running without any valid documents for the last nine years, our Lalmonirhat correspondent reports quoting Mihir Lal Sarder, Assistant Director of DoE in Rangpur.

Meanwhile, a mobile court led by Executive Magistrate TM Rahsin Kabir of the Deputy Commissioner’s office fined tenant Manik Miah on Saturday night in presence of police and the money was already deposited to the court on the spot.

However, the information was disclosed today, the correspondent said.

If the officials do not receive a reply from Abul Kashem within the next seven days from Monday, the rice mill owner will be fined and the mill will be sealed off, DoE official Mihir Lal Sarder said.

The DoE did not file a case against the Manik Miah as he was already fined by the mobile court, he added.

Over a hundred birds of different species, including pigeons and sparrows, were poisoned to death by Manik Miah when the birds came to feed on the paddy on Saturday morning. Locals protested against the killing of birds and they demanded exemplary punishment of the perpetrator on that very day.

The incident came to the forefront, especially after the image of a four-year-old child protesting the killing and demanding punishment of the perpetrator was published in national dailies.