Hazaribagh tanneries discharge nearly 22,000 square metres of untreated toxic effluents in the Buriganga river every day. Hazaribagh is the fifth most polluted zone in the world, according to two international research organizations based in Switzerland and the USA. Buriganga is now an ugly water body where fish and other aquatic creatures were choked to death. The chemical-laden gas dispatched into the air causing destruction of flora and fauna as well as the people living in Hazaribagh and adjoining localities. The first tanneries in the country were set up in Narayanganj in the 1940s but were moved to Hazaribagh around a decade later as the industry was quickly expanding. Despite a huge commercial success, the industry was identified by the government as the ‘most polluting’ industrial sector in 1986. On Aug 7 that year, a gazette was published to adopt measures to control their pollution, and to ensure that no new tanning factories are set up without proper equipment to control pollution. The High Court in 2001, too, issued a set of directives in this regard and the government took the initiative to set up a tannery park in Savar and relocate the factories there. The construction of the park was approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council in August 2003 but it has not been completed even now. Though the tanners were initially ordered to move there by June 2015, the deadline was postponed quite a few times as the Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) in Savar was not fully set up. The CETP partially came into operation in January this year. The owners of 155 tanning factories in Hazaribagh, in the meantime, were asked at least on 20 occasions to shift to Savar. Twenty-eight of the owners were served legal notices in January and 10 owners were summoned by the High Court on Mar 23 for disregarding the court order to relocate. Explaining the environmental impacts of the tanning factories, Industries Minister Amu on Jan 13 this year said, “The Buriganga, the Shitalakkhya-all the rivers are dying because of these tanneries. If the tanners do not abide by the government, the allotment of their plots in Savar will be cancelled.” But the government has failed to relocate tanneries from Dhaka’s Hazaribagh to Savar within the deadline. Tanneries dump dye and chemicals into a sewer that feeds into the Buriganga river, Dhaka City’s main river and water supply. Bangladesh exports both raw leather and finished leather products such as luxury leather goods but mostly footwear, including high-end fashion shoes.
