The government is set to miss yet another deadline for shifting the tanneries from Hazaribagh by June as the owners failed to set up their factories at Savar, the new site they had been allotted in 2013. Tannery relocation project officials submitted a fresh proposal to the industry ministry seeking another extension of deadline. Project director Abdul Quayum told New Age Saturday that the extension became obvious as most of the tannery owners did not build new factories at Savar. He said that it would not be possible to commission the effluent treatment plant until the tanneries were shifted. Out of 155 factory owners only 24 began shifting heir plants while the others just started the construction of their factory buildings, he said. A project official said that the government already paid the compensation of Tk 60 crore to the owners for shifting the tanneries to Savar. The remaining compensation amounting to Tk 190 crore would be paid in phases for complete shifting of the tanneries, he said. He said that the management ETP would be would be handed over to a joint management committee comprising of representatives of the owners and the industry ministry after complete shifting of the tanneries. Following a High Court directive, the government took the tannery shifting project 13 years ago. The HC gave the directive to save the Buriganga River from pollution by the tanneries. On Friday, the government banned raw hide entry in Hazaribagh to force the owners to shift their tanneries. The police enforced the ban, said Hazaribagh police station inspector Moniruzzaman using four check posts. He said that the district administration ran no mobile court at Hazaribagh against the entry of raw hide in the area. Bangladesh Tanners Association general secretary Shawkat Ullah described the ban on the entry of raw hide in the area as a one-sided decision. The tanners expressed the fear that the ban’s adverse impact would be visible in the next week due to loss of export orders. Speaking at a function of Bangladesh Fertiliser Association in the capital industries minister Amir Hossain Amu announced Saturday that there would be no relaxation of the ban. He said that no bank loans would be arranged by the industry ministry for tannery shifting.
