Overflowing water laced with untreated toxic chemicals from tannery factories has been causing environmental pollution in areas around the still under-construction Tannery Industrial Park at Savar on the capital’s outskirts.During a recent visit, New Age reporters found the road passing by Samata Tannery completely submerged under knee-deep filthy water from the tannery factory.The air around the area smelt foul.The same picture was seen in front of Rajib Tannery and Mitali Tannery with overflowing filthy water submerging the open drain as well as the road.No effluent is supposed to get into the open drain meant for draining out rain waters alone, BSCIC’s tannery park project officials told New Age.The prevailing picture even before all the tannery factories could relocate does not at all augur well for the government’s declared objective of establishment of an environment friendly tannery park at Savar. BSCIC officials and the tannery factory owners blamed each other for the pollution caused in the area after only 48 out of 154 tannery factories had shifted to the tannery park still under construction.Foul smell from the under construction solid dumping yard on the southern corner of the tannery park constantly makes the neighbouring population very uncomfortable. BSCIC officials said that noncompliant tanners regularly throw solid wastes in an open large pond even before it could be readied for dumping solid wastes.BSCIC move for dumping solid wastes form the tannery park in Amin Bazar landfill is facing uncertainties as the Dhaka North City Corporation put forward several conditions for the disposal of the toxic wastes.Locals said that they were apprehensive that at pollution would multiply once all the 154 tannery factories shift to the tannery park.The authorities must make the tannery park environment friendly, said Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association chief executive Rizwana Hasan. She said it would in no way be acceptable if the tannery park also breeds the problems people faced when the tannery factories were at Hazaribagh. Tannery industrial park project director Ziaul Haq alleged that tannery factory owners were not cooperating with the authorities as they felt that they had been forced to leave Hazaribagh. Rejecting the allegation, tannery factory owners blamed BSCIC for providing faulty drains and pipelines for effluent removal.Bangladesh Tanners Association chairman Shaheen Ahmed said BSCIC forced the factory owner to relocate their facilities to an under construction tannery park even before the underground drainage system linking the factories with solid dumping station could be built.He said that under construction infrastructure was causing pollution. BUET professor and tannery industrial park consultant Delwar Hossain said BSCIC and the tannery owners should jointly organize orientation sessions to acquaint the workers with how the infrastructure at the new tannery park should be used. Salman Farabi, who lives at JamJam City, close to the tannery park, said that people in the area can no more use the roads and lanes passing through the tannery park as they had been submerged by filthy water.He said that while acquiring their land BSCIC had promised that it would develop a pollution-free tannery park.But now those living in nearby areas find it difficult to stay at homes, he said.In 2001, the High Court had ordered relocating tannery factories from Hazaribagh to save the Buriganga from pollution.
