The Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Climate Change has significantly enhanced citizen engagement by launching a new helpline, 333-4, for addressing environmental concerns and complaints. Environment, Forestry, and Climate Change Minister Saber Hossain Chowdhury inaugurated the service at the ministry’s conference room today with State Minister for Posts, Telecommunications, and Information Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak.
Alongside this initiative, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Climate Change and the ICT Division to transition into a smart ministry.
Dr. Farzana Ahmed from the Environment Ministry and Mamunur Rashid Bhuiyan from the ICT Division signed the MoU to leverage digital initiatives to enhance government services and internal efficiency while promoting citizen engagement.
The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) will play a pivotal role in institutional memory preservation, planning processes, policy development, environmental impact assessment programs, and strengthening enforcement activities for environmental quality control. This collaboration marks an important milestone towards streamlining services such as issuing environmental clearance certificates online.
Citizens can now report various environmental concerns like water pollution or illegal deforestation through this helpline, which will streamline complaint lodging processes, facilitate swift actions by relevant authorities upon receiving complaints, and ensure accountability within governmental systems.
Furthermore, experts emphasize that empowering individuals to report environmental infractions plays a vital role in upholding ecological integrity and holding accountable those who endanger the environment. With increasing awareness and accessibility to mechanisms such as this helpline, collective efforts towards conservation are expected to strengthen significantly over time.
