Defying pressure and many government deadlines, tanneries in the capital’s Hazaribagh area are continuing their operation in full swing with normal rawhide supply, reports UNB. Visiting 10-12 tanneries, including Helal Tannery, Luna Tannery, Milon Tannery, Amin Tannery and LIB Tannery, the news agency correspondent has recently found the factories continuing operations normally, with rawhide stocks as usual. The government on April 1 stopped the rawhide supply to Hazaribagh to force the tanners to shift their factories to the designated industrial park in Savar as they ignored many deadlines over the last decade. But the rawhide supply to Hazaribagh got normal just 20-22 days after the restriction imposed. On April 3 last, the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC), the implementing agency of the tannery estate project, also set April 10, 2016 as the latest deadline to shift tanneries, which was also ignored by the tanners. Earlier in January last, the government set a 72-hour ultimatum and served legal notices to the owners for relocating their tanneries from Hazaribagh to Savar by March 30. Following a writ petition by a non-government organisation Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh, the High Court HC on June 16 last ordered the owners of 154 Hazaribagh tanneries to pay Tk 50,000 each a day as compensation for damaging the environment until their factories are relocated to Savar Tannery Industrial Estate. But the Supreme Court on June 28 last stayed the HC order till July 17. Justice Hasan Foez Siddique, chamber judge of the Appellate Division, also sent the petition to the full bench of the Appellate Division for its further hearing on July 17. Defying all the pressures and deadlines, tanneries resumed their normal operation. Saiful Islam, a technician of Milon Tannery, said, “Our factory is in regular operation. Rawhide supply is now normal. The supply was stalled just for 20-22 days. Now police do not obstruct the supply.” Supervisor of Helal Tannery Rashed Uddin also said his factory remain in production with normal rawhide supply.
