Failed environmental safeguards leave coastal Bangladesh facing coal pollution

The Payra 1320 MW coal plant in Patuakhali, Bangladesh, has operated since 2020 without the mandatory stack emissions testing required annually under the country's environmental rules, according to a review of testing documents from 2021 to 2025.

Villagers near the plant describe ash-coated crops, itching skin and eye problems, echoing a study linking local health and agricultural harm to the plant's failure to follow environmental safeguards. The plant's own environmental clearance was issued in October 2020 — months after both its units had already begun commercial operation.

Regulators disagree on who bears responsibility: the Barishal Divisional Office's chemist says the lab simply cannot perform the tests, while a Department of Environment deputy director insists ambient air isn't the industry's problem and that critics 'lack knowledge.' The office's own director contradicts that, saying ambient testing is necessary because of coal handling and transport activity beyond the stack.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.