M Faruque Hossain :The Hazaribagh tannery owners are neither paying compensation nor removing their factories to Savar despite expiry of deadline, posing environmental threat to the residents of the area. The Supreme Court on July 18 reduced the compensation amount to Tk 10,000 from Tk 50,000 each per day for the 154 tanneries until relocation of the factories to Savar Tannery Estate. The court also ordered the government to donate 50 percent of the fine to National Liver Foundation of Bangladesh. But it is alleged that the tanners are dilly-dallying payment of the compensation amount.As such, petitioner and Advocate Manzil Murshid said that he would file a writ in connection with non-payment of compensation amount by the tanners. The government suspended rawhide supply to Hazaribagh tanneries as the tanners had failed to meet the March 31 deadline upon a request from the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC), the implementing agency of the tannery estate project. The Muslim community’s second largest religious festival-Eid-ul-Azha-will be observed in the second week of September. Millions of cattle will be slaughtered on the occasion and the rawhides of the sacrificial animals in millions will be brought to the tannery factories at Hazaribagh. They will begin processing their rawhide there and that will again cause serious environmental hazards to the river Buriganga. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on July 31 expressed displeasure at the unnecessary delay in relocating tanneries from the city’s Hazaribagh area by their owners although the government provided various facilities at Savar. The Prime Minister talked about her government’s initiatives to set up 100 economic zones in the country, stressing the need for keeping in mind the issues of protecting environment and building water bodies and other facilities there. She urged the industry owners to be more sincere and take initiatives in establishing Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP), as the government has made establishment of CETP mandatory in all the waste generating industries. Hazaribagh is the most densely populated place in the city with about two lakh people. The residents of Lalbagh, Rayerbazar, Dhanmondi and Mohammadpur, which are adjacent to Hazaribagh, are also in a trouble as there is no CETP (Central Effluent Treatment Plant) at Hazaribagh to treat the tannery waste.According to POBA (Poribesh Bachao Andolan), Hazaribagh discharges 21,600 square metres of liquid waste every day. Human Rights Watch (HRW), a New York-based international rights body, alleges that leather tanneries in Dhaka city have been releasing toxic effluent into a densely populated neighbourhood for decades. It should be stopped.The government took a project from 2003 to 2006 to relocate the tanneries from Hazaribagh to the Savar Tannery Estate. The main view of BSCIC was to provide infrastructure facilities to the tannery entrepreneurs by establishing an environmentally suitable tannery estate for development and modernization of the industry with a view to attracting foreign investment, increasing the production, export, employment and enhancing contribution to GDP. The project is being implemented on 200 acres of land. About 205 plots and 155 industrial units will be set up there. About one lakh people will get employment opportunities there. After implementation of the project, the capital city of Dhaka and the Buriganga River will be free from environmental pollution.While relocating is a matter of urgency for securing 160,000 people’s health, who live surrounding the Hazaribagh area, are anxiously waiting when the transfer will be executed.A resident of Hazaribagh on condition of anonymity said, “We are worried at the delay of the relocation. We want quick implementation of relocation.”
