Mohammad Badrul Ahsan :
Tanners in the capital’s Hazaribagh area are still running their operation in full swing with normal rawhide supply showing thumb to the pressure and many deadlines of the government.
Visiting 10-12 tanneries, including Helal Tannery, Luna Tannery, Milon Tannery, Amin Tannery and LIB Tannery, the The New Nation found the factories continuing operations normally, with stock of rawhides as usual.
The government on April 1 stopped the rawhide supply to Hazaribagh to force the tanners to shift their factories to the designated industrial park in Savar as they ignored many deadlines over the last decade.
But the rawhide supply to Hazaribagh got normal just 20-22 days after the restriction imposed.
On April 3 last, the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC), the implementing agency of the tannery estate project, also set April 10, 2016 as the latest deadline to shift tanneries, which was also ignored by the tanners.
Earlier in January last, the government set a 72-hour ultimatum and served legal notices to the owners for relocating their tanneries from Hazaribagh to Savar by March 30.
Following a writ petition by a non-government organisation Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh, the High Court HC on June 16 last ordered the owners of 154 Hazaribagh tanneries to pay Tk 50,000 each a day as compensation for damaging the environment until their factories are relocated to Savar Tannery Industrial Estate.
But the Supreme Court on June 28 last stayed the HC order till July 17.
Justice Hasan Foez Siddique, chamber judge of the Appellate Division also sent the petition to the full bench of the Appellate Division for its further hearing on July 17.
Defying all the pressures and deadlines, tanneries resumed their normal operation.
Saiful Islam, a technician of Milon Tannery, said, “Our factory is in regular operation. Rawhide supply is now normal. The supply was stalled just for 20-22 days. Now police do not obstruct the supply.”
Supervisor of Helal Tannery Rashed Uddin also said his factory remain in production with normal rawhide supply.
Chairman of Bangladesh Tanners Association Shaheen Ahmed also admitted that now they are not facing any problem in the case of rawhide supply to Hazaribagh.
“Some 50-60 tanneries, out of 155, will be able to start operation in Savar immediately after Eid-ul-Azha, while the remaining ones will be able to go there early next year,” he told The New Nation.
The BTA chairman alleged that Central Effluent Treatment Plan (CETP) of the Savar Leather Estate is not fully ready for operation yet. “The government has also realised that relocation is not possible within a short time.”
But Project Director of the Tannery Estate Abdul Quayum claimed that two units of the CETP have been fully ready to go into operation since March 29 last. And effluent from at least 30 factories is essential to start operation of the CETP.
He, however, declined to make comment over the latest progress of the relocation process.
The government initially took the three-year project in 2003 to set up the industrial park to relocate some 205 tanneries from Hazaribagh considering health and environmental hazards. It has allotted 155 plots at a 200-acre leather estate among tanners and provided them Tk 250 crore as compensation for shifting their industrial units.
Some 21,000 cubic metres of untreated toxic waste are released every day from the Hazaribagh tanneries into the Buriganga River, posing a serious risk to human and animal health.
Tanners in the capital’s Hazaribagh area are still running their operation in full swing with normal rawhide supply showing thumb to the pressure and many deadlines of the government.
Visiting 10-12 tanneries, including Helal Tannery, Luna Tannery, Milon Tannery, Amin Tannery and LIB Tannery, the The New Nation found the factories continuing operations normally, with stock of rawhides as usual.
The government on April 1 stopped the rawhide supply to Hazaribagh to force the tanners to shift their factories to the designated industrial park in Savar as they ignored many deadlines over the last decade.
But the rawhide supply to Hazaribagh got normal just 20-22 days after the restriction imposed.
On April 3 last, the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC), the implementing agency of the tannery estate project, also set April 10, 2016 as the latest deadline to shift tanneries, which was also ignored by the tanners.
Earlier in January last, the government set a 72-hour ultimatum and served legal notices to the owners for relocating their tanneries from Hazaribagh to Savar by March 30.
Following a writ petition by a non-government organisation Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh, the High Court HC on June 16 last ordered the owners of 154 Hazaribagh tanneries to pay Tk 50,000 each a day as compensation for damaging the environment until their factories are relocated to Savar Tannery Industrial Estate.
But the Supreme Court on June 28 last stayed the HC order till July 17.
Justice Hasan Foez Siddique, chamber judge of the Appellate Division also sent the petition to the full bench of the Appellate Division for its further hearing on July 17.
Defying all the pressures and deadlines, tanneries resumed their normal operation.
Saiful Islam, a technician of Milon Tannery, said, “Our factory is in regular operation. Rawhide supply is now normal. The supply was stalled just for 20-22 days. Now police do not obstruct the supply.”
Supervisor of Helal Tannery Rashed Uddin also said his factory remain in production with normal rawhide supply.
Chairman of Bangladesh Tanners Association Shaheen Ahmed also admitted that now they are not facing any problem in the case of rawhide supply to Hazaribagh.
“Some 50-60 tanneries, out of 155, will be able to start operation in Savar immediately after Eid-ul-Azha, while the remaining ones will be able to go there early next year,” he told The New Nation.
The BTA chairman alleged that Central Effluent Treatment Plan (CETP) of the Savar Leather Estate is not fully ready for operation yet. “The government has also realised that relocation is not possible within a short time.”
But Project Director of the Tannery Estate Abdul Quayum claimed that two units of the CETP have been fully ready to go into operation since March 29 last. And effluent from at least 30 factories is essential to start operation of the CETP.
He, however, declined to make comment over the latest progress of the relocation process.
The government initially took the three-year project in 2003 to set up the industrial park to relocate some 205 tanneries from Hazaribagh considering health and environmental hazards. It has allotted 155 plots at a 200-acre leather estate among tanners and provided them Tk 250 crore as compensation for shifting their industrial units.
Some 21,000 cubic metres of untreated toxic waste are released every day from the Hazaribagh tanneries into the Buriganga River, posing a serious risk to human and animal health.
