Department of Environment (DoE) on Saturday ensured snapping off the utility service connections to the tanneries in the city’s Hazaribagh area, complying with a High Court order. The drive of disconnecting gas, power and water supply lines began at around 9:00am, Mir Alimuzzaman, officer-in-charge of Hazaribagh Police Station, told the FE. DoE Director General Md. Raisul Alam Mondal, who was present during the drive, told the reporters that the drive will also continue today (Sunday). The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on March 30 asked all the tanneries to relocate to Savar Tannery estate by April 6, rejecting a petition seeking permission to continue activities at Hazaribagh in the capital until Eid-ul-Azha. A three-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, passed the order after hearing on a petition filed by the tannery owners seeking a stay on the High Court order. Earlier on March 06, High Court directed the director general of the DoE to immediately close the tanneries. On March 12, the Appellate Division upheld the HC directive. The court also asked the DG to disconnect the utilities of the tanneries as they were damaging the environment through violating the court’s earlier directives. “We have to go today or tomorrow. Though the Savar tannery estate is not completely ready, yet most of our factories have been relocated,” said Md Abu Taher, president of Bangladesh Finished Leather, Leather-goods and Footwear Exporters’ Association (BFLLFEA). Most of the tanneries in the Hazaribagh area were out of operation on Saturday due to the power supply cut while many have been closed since last month, according to an eye witness account. All the machinery and electronic equipment at the tanneries were kept covered while the workers were seen hanging around in the area. Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited sent out four teams to cut gas supply to the tanneries. Company secretary of Titas Gas Mushtaq Ahmed said: “Following the court order, we were ready to disconnect the gas lines. We had sent instructions to our zonal office one month ago.” An official from the teams, Sheikh Shahidul Islam (technical officer) said they started disconnecting the gas lines, following the disconnections of power lines. He said they would take some more time to disconnect a total of 51 gas lines in the tanneries. An official at the Jigatola office of Dhaka Power Distribution Company Ltd (DPDC), Belal Hossain, said the DPDC with its 15 men team was cooperating with the environment department in the drive. “Basically, the DoE is operating the drive. We have been asked a month ago that a drive in Hazaribagh would begin anytime,” he said. In October 2010, the High Court had set a six-month deadline for the tannery owners to relocate their business to Savar. According to the order, the tanneries should have been moved from Hazaribagh by April 30, 2011. However, the government extended the deadline several times. The latest extension came in December last year, when the Industries Ministry issued a notice to the tannery owners asking them to move out of Hazaribagh by March 31 this year.
