Meanwhile, a mobile court in Dhaka yesterday fined Ibn Sina Food Products Tk 1 lakh for manufacturing orange juice-powder without Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) licence and a Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) mobile court fined Aftab Multi-purpose Farm for keeping dead chickens and dairy food items without expiry dates.

In Chittagong, Magistrate Syeda Sarwar Jahan conducted the raid in Agrabad and Pahartali areas and found two factories polluting environment and posing serious health hazards like respiratory problem.

A ditch of the size of a pond filled with waste lubricant oil was found in the site of Bhai Bhai Lube Oil in a dense residential area of Agrabad.

"I didn't see any fresh soil in the factory. The entire premises were covered under thick black oil, mainly wastes of ships and transport," Jahan told The Daily Star.

She found over hundred drums of waste oil stockpiled for processing into lubricant oil and selling in the market. If used, this waste oil will surely reduce the longevity of vehicles, she said.

The magistrate awarded factory-owner Shawkat Ali one month's jail and landlord Aminul Haq Chowdhury three days' imprisonment. She also fined the two Tk 10,000 and Tk 25,000.

The mobile court then unearthed another illegal factory running without proper BSTI licence on Sagarika Road in Pahartali. The scales used at the factory were found faulty.

The court seized the scales, sealed the factory and fined Tk 20,000 to its owner.

The court later raided a sweetmeat outlet, Mishti Bitan, on MM Ali Road in Dampara and fined it Tk 25,000 for selling stale sweets and unhygienic environment.

Dhaka
A mobile court led by Magistrate Rokonuddoullah raided the Ibn Sina Food Products in Paltan area and found it was producing orange juice-powder without BSTI licence.

"The company had licence for another product but not for the orange juice-powder. The atmosphere was not hygienic, too," the magistrate told The Daily Star.

The DCC mobile court, led by Magistrate Muktar Hossain, found nine dead chickens at the Aftab Multi-purpose Farm at Segunbagicha.

The court also found ghee containers without label and yogurt and milk without expiry dates. The court fined the farm Tk 61,800.

The same court later fined Tk 35,000 to Mama Hotel at Kalabagan for preserving stale meat and collected Tk 15,000 as fine from the canteen of Lab Aid Cardiac Hospital in Science Laboratory area for keeping raw and cooked meat in the same fridge.

Another mobile court led by Magistrate Mizanur Rahman raided seven shops in Shyamoli and Adabar areas and collected Tk 43,000 from the shops for using chemicals in food and unhygienic atmosphere inside the restaurants.

The court fined Tk 8,000 to Al-Arafat Hotel and Restaurant, Tk 20,000 to Ananya Food Products, Tk 2,000 to Al-Mamun Hotel, Tk 4,000 to Ruchita Restaurants in Adabar area.

It also fined Tk 3,000 to Nahar Hotel and Restaurant, Tk 4,000 to New Aktar Hotel and Restaurant and Tk 2,000 to New Nahar Hotel and Restaurant.

"The restaurants had rotten and stale food and I found chemicals and artificial colours in some of their food," the magistrate told The Daily Star.

Another court fined two bakeries in Demra Tk 20,000 each for unhygienic atmosphere and jailed the owner of a tooth powder factory for six months.