Staff Reporter :The Industries Ministry has served legal notices on the owners of 28 tanneries for failure to start relocation work of their factories from Hazaribagh in the capital to the designated industrial park in Savar. “Legal notices have been served on them individually,” Project Director and Joint Secretary Abdul Qayyum said on Wednesday. He said, many tannery owners have received the notices.It is noteworthy that Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu in a meeting with the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) on Sunday gave a 72-hour ultimatum to the factory owners to relocate the factories from Hazaribagh to Savar. “The ultimatum expired Wednesday,” said Abdul Qayyum adding that they had so far given reminders to tanners 27 times.Asked whether the government has any plan to cancel the plots of those tanners, the official said they have no such intention.He, however, did not mention the names of the owners who have been served legal notices.Industries Ministry sources said, if the tanners fail to shift their factories within the given time, their plot allocations in the leather industrial park in Savar will be cancelled.The Industries Ministry had allocated plots to 155 tannery owners through Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC).The tanners will have to invest around Tk 6,000 crore to relocate the factories and to set up new plants and begin commercial production. There are some 195 tanneries at Hazaribagh.
