& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Relocation of polluting tanneries in limbo

Businesses demand compensation

Wasim Bin Habib
The much-awaited relocation of tanneries from Hazaribagh to proposed 'leather estate' inSavar is facing various complications as the government and the industry owners have yet to settle several issues even three years after inauguration of the relocation project
Tannery owners arc reluctant to shift their businesses until the government provides them with compensation and other facilities.
However, the government is apparently not much willing to meet these demands. Complexity in setting up the Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) is also hindering the process, said sources.
Meanwhile in the five years after the launch of the project named “Dhaka Tannery Estate Project" (DTEP), the Buriganga river experienced further pollution. Moreover, residents in die w estern part of the capital are set td face onslaught of toxic liquid waste in the coming days as the tannery waste is still being dumped in the Buriganga after the tanneries were shifted from Narayanganj about45 years ago.
Nearly 22,000 cubic metres of untreated and highly toxic liquid waste from over 200 tanneries flow through the canals into the Buriganga. the lifeline of the capital, everyday, according to the Department of Environment (DoE).
The tanneries located in a 25-hectare-area are responsible for dumping the untreated and highly toxic liquid waste near the locality where around 20,000 people live.
Moreover, every day 100 tonnes of solid waste including trimmings of finished leather, shaving dusts, hair, fleshing, trimming of raw hides and skins are dumped into lire Buriganga, posing a serious threat to the environment.
Chromium, sulphur, oils and noxious gas (methane, ammonia, hydrogen sulphide) are the ele ments of liquid, gas and sold waste of tannery industries, said DoE sources.
A significant part of the liquid and solid waste is being heaped up in the adjacent lagoons polluting the soil of adjacent areas and also exposing the groundwater to be contaminated by the heavy metal chromium.
An expert said different types of chemicals including salt (sodium chloride, sulphate), ammonium chloride, ammonium sulphate and chrome sulphate arc used by die
tanneries.
To avert the colossal environ mental damage and health hazards, the then government took up theTk 175 crore project to shift the in Savar on the city outskirts in 2003 by2005.
But the deadline was extended up to 2010 due to delay in starting the project which was inaugurated in 2005, said DTEP officials.
The tannery owners said they demanded Tk 250 crore in compensation for the relocation, but the government has not taken any decision in this regard.
"The government has yet to give our compensation and other facilities although we have narrowed down our demand to the minimum level," Harun Or Rashid, president of Bangladesh Tanners'Association, told The Daily Star.
"It is unlikely to make full-scale relocation by 2010 as it lakes al least two and a half years to complete the CETP work. Moreover, the govern ment has not yet realised our demands." he added.
Their other demands include making the 'leather estate' an Export Processing Zone with all die facilities enjoyed by other EPZs. providing soft loans and provision for easy exit of the 'weak' tanneries from the leather industries.
"Unless the government provides us with those facilities, it would not be possible for us to shift our factories from Hazaribagh," said Bangladesh Finished Leather
and Leather Goods Exporters' Association (BFLLEA) President Md Tipu Sultan.
Sultan said. "The shifting would require an investment of Tk 4,500 crore. But with the existing sei-up at Hazaribagh. we would be able to cover at best Tk 1,500 crore to Tk 2,000."
"We still fall short of Tk 2,000 crore to Tk 2,500 crore to manage die huge investment. We would definitely need government support." he said.
On CETP the tannery owners said according to the agreement signed between ihe industry ministry and them, the government would construct CETP and would hand it over to the owners for maintenance after two years. But the present government asked the owners to bear CETP building cost
They said in the beginning, the cost fur CETP was Tk 83 crore, but now the revised cost touches Tk 434 crore as the cost of CETP and other materials have increased in the meantime.
"Since we have to bear die cost so why should we bear so high price when it is not supposed to lake more than Tk 150-200 crore io construct the ETP,’ said Harun Or Rashid.
Pakistan constructs ihe same thing with Rs 80 crore, he cited, adding that diey will be able to complete the task with Ik 175-200 crore if ihe government gives them the task.
Besides, inclusion of the bound ary wall of die leather estate’ and water supply system, expenditure in developing land and increase in project time period brought the total cost at Tk 545.36 crore.
Sultan said if the government meets their demands and if CETP construction would start within a year, they can go for production within three years
’We haw done the infrastructure work in the new site as plots were allocated, roads and drains were built and gas, water and electricity were ensured. The government is thinking about die owner's compensation positively." said Sohrab Hossain, project director of DTEP.
Asked about CETP he said. "We are thinking' about floating new tender for ETP"
DoE officials said they in a letter they asked Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) on April 4 for the papers of the agreement signed between it and the tannery owners and a report about development of shifting process, but BSCIC has not respondedyet
A student of Bangladesh College of Leather Technology (BCTL) in Hazaribagh said it has become tough to stay in the classrooms as books and writing sheets get filled with particles generated from ran nery waste. Sometimes, breathing becomes hard due to stinky air in the sun ounding areas, he added.