Issuing a note of warning to extortionists, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan has asked anyone who had been engaging in extortionist activities in Karwan Bazar to leave the place — one of the largest kitchen markets in Dhaka — for good.

He warned that those who had been allegedly resorting to extortion in the market must leave the place.

His remarks came while addressing a cleanliness and awareness campaign against the use of banned polythene on Sunday (Aug 4).

The Awami League had put a stop to extortion and the monthly murders that used to take place in the area after assuming office, claimed Khan.

Those who were trying to revive the trend of extortion would be firmly dealt with, he warned.

Responding to a query from the media over Mohona TV journalist Mushfiqur Rahman who went missing on Saturday, the minister said that Dhaka metro police’s Deputy Commissioner Mostak Ahmed had been given orders to trace him and that he was hopeful about speedy results.  

He also said that the incumbent government had a strong anti-polythene stance and would take firm measures to ensure effective implementation of the law enacted to prevent the use of polythene. 

The minister lamented that the government was struggling to clean up the Buriganaga River, which was choking to death due to a 67-feet-wide polythene pile-up.

He noted that the incidence of various diseases, including cancer, had risen due to the pollution caused by polythene which was now even being found in the stomach of fish that shored up along rivers.

The minister also pointed out that effective measures must be taken to control the usage of polythene that was causing the sewerage system in the capital to collapse alongside disrupting the city’s waste disposal.