Hazaribagh tanners have claimed that the export orders of leather worth Tk 15 billion were cancelled in 19 days since snapping of utility connections to the Hazaribagh tanneries.Leaders of Chamra Shilpa Rakkha Oikya Parishad, a platform of tannery owners and workers formed recently to ‘protect’ the leather industry, made the claim at a ‘meet the press’ programme on Thursday.They said the tannery industry has incurred a loss of as much as over Tk 25 billion during the said period.They claimed that the authorities have given utility connections to only nine units at Savar Tannery Estate so far whereas the Supreme Court, in its directives on 9 April, had asked the authorities concerned to provide all the industrial units with the utility services in 15 days.The tanners said they are now thinking over legal move to get the utility connections.The government is setting up the Savar Tannery Estate on an area of 199 acres of land with a cost of Tk 10.79 billion to relocate 154 tannery factories from the capital’s Hazaribagh area to bring an end to pollution.Although the Savar Tannery Estate project was taken in 2003, the authorities could not complete commissioning of the project within the stipulated timeframe.The tanners were also unwilling to shift their units to Savar, alleging that the authorities could not provide all the required facilities in the Tannery Estate.As the government machinery failed to take the tanners to Savar even giving them as much 13 ultimatums, the Supreme Court on 8 April ordered the authorities to snap all utility connections to Hazaribagh tannery factories.The production in Hazaribagh tanneries have remained halted since thenAgainst this backdrop, 19 tannery-related organisations formed the platform – Chamra Shilpa Rakkha Oikya Parishad (Leather Industry Protection Unity Council) – to press home their nine-point demands.The demands include setting up of Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP), Chrome Recovery Unit, and Dumping Yard at Savar Tannery Estate, ensuring utility connections, and special allocations for workers and officials of the industries for the interim period when the industries would remain closed.They also demand compensation for the cancellation of export orders, thanks to halt in production.Oikya Parishad co-chairman and Bangladesh Tanners Association chairman Shahin Ahmed told the press meet that a total of one crore people are directly and indirectly involved with the industry.“The export of Tk 1,505 crore has been cancelled by this time as the production remains halted. And the total loss in the industry has crossed Tk 2,600 crore whereas the CETP at Savar is not working till now. Three Chrome Recovery Units are yet to start functioning,” alleged Shahin Ahmed.Another co-chairman of the body and Bangladesh Finished Leather, Leather Goods and Footwear Exporters Association president Mahiuddin Ahmed blamed the Savar Tannery Estate project implementing authority, Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industry Corporation (BSCIC), for the “evolved stalemate” in the leather industry.He said they did not know exactly when they would be able to go for production.
