Close Tanneries at Hazaribagh

The High Court yesterday directed the director general of the Department of Environment to immediately close the tanneries that are running at the capital's Hazaribagh and have failed to relocate to the Tannery Industrial Estate in Savar. The court also ordered the DG to disconnect the utility services, including gas, power and water, to the tanneries as they were damaging the environment violating the court's earlier directives. Ministries of home, environment, industries, the inspector general of police (IGP) and the commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police have been asked to assist the DG in complying with the order. The HC asked the DG to submit a report after complying with its directives by April 6 and fixed April 10 for further hearing on the issue. The bench of Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed and Justice Md Salim came up with the order following a petition filed by Bangladesh Environment Lawyers Association (Bela). DG Raisul Alam Mondal could not be reached for comments as he was abroad. Last year, the tannery factories at Hazaribagh produced every day about 21,600 cubic metres of environmentally hazardous liquid containing chemicals such as chromium, sulphur, ammonium, salt and other chemicals. Even though the High Court directed to shut the tannery industries operating in Hazaribagh immediately, neither the government nor the tanners have finished their work at the estate in Savar. In a recent visit to the tannery estate, it was seen that the authorities have been running the effluent treatment plant (ETP) on a trial basis, treating the liquid waste from the 47 units now operating in Savar. Another 107 units are supposed to be relocated to Savar from Hazaribagh. Waste, generated in the test run that began after the Eid-ul-Azha in October last, is discharged into the river. The Department of Environment tested the water of the river and found the waste was not treated properly. Conducted on January 5, the test found more than 80 microgram of salt along with other pollutants in one litre of the river water. Following a meeting with Bangladesh Tanners Association and Bangladesh Finished Leather, Leather Goods and Footwear Exporters Association, the secretary of the Ministry of Industries on March 1 announced that all the factories would have to be moved to the estate by March 31, 2017, as the tanners missed several deadlines.

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Posted by admin on Mar 7 2017. Filed under News at Now. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry