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Department of Environment

department · verified (verified 2026-05-17)

Profile

Head
Dr. Md. Kamruzzaman NDC
Role
Director General
Annual budget
—
Staff
1133
Established
1989
Legal basis
Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act, 1995 (Act No. 1 of 1995), Section 4, which directs the Government to establish a department to be called the Department of Environment for carrying out the purposes of the Act. The Department traces its institutional lineage to the Department of Environmental Pollution Control established in 1985, which was reorganised and renamed DoE in 1989 when the Ministry of Environment and Forest was created. The Environmental Conservation Rules 2023 (ECR 2023), issued under Section 20 of the ECA 1995, replaced the 1997 Rules and restructured the four-category ECC system (Green, Yellow, Orange, Red) with revised timelines and EIA requirements.

The DoE is in a period of heightened enforcement activity in Q1-Q2 2026: Tk 24 crore in fines and 648-670 brick kiln shutdowns in the January-April 2026 anti-pollution campaign; Dhaka AQI averaging 179 in 2026 (27% worse than 2025), driven by brick kilns, transport, and industrial emissions that DoE's NAQMP 2024-2030 aims to reduce; plastic ban enforcement remains patchy with polythene widely found in markets 15 months after the ban; the $290 million World Bank Clean Air Project (approved June 2025) has DoE as lead implementing agency alongside BRTA and DTCA, with disbursements beginning in FY2026; ECR 2023 restructured the four-tier ECC clearance system with DoE as sole approving authority.

Recent activity

Provenance & notes

Established 1989 as a reorganisation of the Department of Environmental Pollution Control (est. 1985), itself a successor to the 1977 Environment Pollution Control Board and Cell. The legal mandate derives from Section 4 of the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act 1995 (ECA 1995), which formally constituted DoE as a statutory department. The ECR 2023 replaced the 1997 rules and is the operative subsidiary legislation governing ECC issuance. Staff count of 1,133 reflects expansion after 21 new district offices were established with 468 new posts; the original sanctioned strength was approximately 665. DoE now operates through a head office (Agargaon, Dhaka), 8 divisional offices, and 50 district offices. Current head Dr Md Kamruzzaman NDC has been in post at least since early 2025 (signed the UNOPS MOU in February 2025); exact appointment date not confirmed in available sources, so head_since is null. The annual_budget_bdt field is null because the Tk 2,144 crore FY2025-26 figure is the entire MoEFCC ministry budget, not the DoE line specifically; DoE's own budget line is not disaggregated in publicly available BSS or MoF documents. The World Bank Clean Air Project ($290 million, P502572, approved June 18, 2025) is the largest single financing instrument in DoE's institutional history; DoE is the lead PIU. The January-April 2026 anti-pollution campaign figures (Tk 24 crore fines, 648-670 brick kilns shut) are cross-confirmed by TBS News and BSS News. Dhaka AQI 179 for 2026 (annual average to date) sourced from aqi.in historical analysis, consistent with DoE's own monthly reports and IQAir rankings. The 3,491 illegal brick kiln closure directive was announced by Environment Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan in September 2024; enforcement through 2025-2026 is ongoing but kiln re-opening after closure remains a documented problem.

Sources