Staff Reporter :Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu on Sunday said, the government will shut down the tanneries situated in the capital’s Hazaribagh area if their owners fail to relocate those to Savar Tannery Estate within 72 hours.The Minister said it in a meeting with the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) held at the conference room of his ministry.He also asked the BSCIC to cancel allocation of Savar estate’s plots against the names of the defaulted owners after 72 hours.Amu sat in the parley with the project directors and the chiefs of the agencies concerned for evaluating the progress of different projects undertaken for development of the country’s industrial sector.Industries Secretary Md Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan and other high officials of the ministry and its various agencies and corporations were also present on the occasion.The Minister asked the Industries Secretary to sit with the project directors and the chiefs of its agencies after every 10 days to review and evaluate the implementation progress of the projects to complete the project within their respective stipulated times. Evaluating the Savar Tannery Estate project, Amu said that the Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) of the tannery estate must be in operation within the stipulated time.Legal action will be taken against the tannery owners, who are delaying the process of factory relocation. Some 21,000 cubic metres of untreated toxic waste are released every day from the Hazaribagh tanneries and falls into the Buriganga River.
