HAZARIBAGH TANNERY: No more menace please!

Though it was all unplanned when only a few tanneries were allowed to operate in Hazaribagh area in the western part of the capital, close to Turag river, now the number has exceeded 200 over the last six decades thanks to the ministries concerned and related government agencies. Tanners wash, dry and process raw hides and skins in factories and also in the open places of Hazaribagh, which is a residential area adjacent to Lalbagh, Rayerbazar, Dhanmondi and Mohammadpur areas. The around 50-acre Hazaribagh, however, has now become a hub of chemically-contaminated area which is highly hazardous for the dwellers regardless of their wealth, let alone the poor workers at the unhygienic factories where reports say many children work and those living in slums.

All the factories at the export-oriented industrial area in Hazaribagh, however, fall under red category but have been enjoying the highest impunity with regard to pollution, workplace safety and health hazards. Not a single factory in the country’s largest leather zone has an ETP to treat the highly-toxic water before release.

Locals in Hazaribagh have also taken for granted that they have no easy option in hand to come out of the sickening situation since the government has ever been reluctant in shifting the tanneries from the city immediately – despite directives from the High Court and relentless outcry of the green groups and activists of home and abroad. We may term it “reluctance,” since the process – undertaken in 2003 pushed by the court – has stumbled several times and even in the mid-way, with the construction of a central effluent treatment plant (CETP) which will ensure that the factories at the new site in Hemayetpur near Savar would not discharge toxic waste water into the canals or rivers untreated.

The process of implementing the CETP has so far taken three years to begin, while it would take at least one year to complete the construction.

In the meantime, whatever is lost is a destiny, for the local people, and the environment, mainly the river Buriganga and those in its downstream. Those who are doing the business obviously do not regret, but the dwellers of Hazaribagh and the adjacent areas are simply helpless as they have been forced to use the contaminated water and breathe polluted air.

The water species have nothing to do in this regard as the waters are carrying the poisonous chemicals and waste. The drains, canals and the river Buriganga – all have lost their ability to keep water species alive long ago!

At a glance

Over 200 factories 50 acres area Over 5,000 people involved Not a single ETP installed Government-made drains run to Buriganga Unhygienic workplace, child labour Almost 90% of the country’s tanneries are located in

Hazaribagh;

Business types

Trading raw hides and skins Processing leather for domestic manufacturers Finished leather and products for exports

Bangladesh earned $765mn [Tk6.12bn] from exporting leather goods and footwear in fiscal year 2011-12 against $650mn [Tk5.2bn] in 2010-11;

About 100 organisations import chemicals for use in tannery industry;

Around 30 types of chemicals like acid, chromium salt, sodium chloride and lead are used in tanning;

Over 22,000 cubic meters of raw and liquid waste produced every day;

At least 100 traders making poultry-fish feed from waste meat-bones.

Management

Since the 1940s till 1960, the tanneries of erstwhile East Pakistan used to process raw hides and skins;

After the independence in 1971, the government formed Tannery Corporation to convert some 30 tanneries left by non-Bangalees into finished leather manufacture units. But it failed;

Later, the government handed over the management of most of these tanneries to state-run Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) and three to Bangladesh Freedom Fighters Welfare Trust. These authorities too failed to manage the tanneries;

The tanneries came under private management in 1982; In 1991, the issue of relocation of the tanneries began to

strike the policymakers. Firstly to Kanchpur area then to Sonargaon of Narayanganj;

In 1993, it was decided that the industries would be shifted to Savar and an area of 17.30 acres was acquired there;

At an inter-ministerial meeting held on August 20, 1998 for the relocation matter, it was revealed that around 15,000 cubic metre of untreated waste were going to river

Buriganga, 70% of whose pollution is caused by the toxic waste;

Since 1991, dozens of meetings were held between the tanners and the government, but the owners refused to leave Hazaribagh; lastly, a 14-member committee headed by the joint secretary of the industries ministry held on September 25, 2008 resolved that all the tanneries shall shift from Hazaribagh within February 2010.

Legal issues

The High Court on June 23, 2009 asked the government to ensure relocation of the tanneries from Hazaribagh by February 28 the next year. The deadline has ever been extended by the court upon request by the government and the tanners;

The court also directed the office of the attorney general to deal with the demands for compensation by tannery owners for relocation of their industries and intervention in transferring bank liabilities of the tanners;

According to the environmental laws, the tanneries that fall under red category must have ETPs;

As per the law on fish and livestock feed, for adulteration of the feed products, one has to face up to one year's imprisonment and a fine up to Tk50,000;

Relocation

The Tk 5.45bn Savar Tannery Estate project was initiated in January 2003 and was set to be complete by December 2005;

However, the construction schedule was later extended to June 2010. Infrastructure in the 200-acre land in complete in early 2010 where around 150 units could be shifted;

The government and the tanners signed an agreement in 2003 for relocation of the factories outside Dhaka; government pledged to provide financial assistance;

In 2006, a government committee proposed Tk2.5bn as compensation since the owners would incur loss of Tk11bn;

Owners now demand Tk5bn as compensation as the relocation would cost them around Tk50bn;

Current government in 2009 said it would not bear the cost of relocation or the central effluent treatment plant (CETP); the owners will be able to pay the cost of CETP installation;

Tender for Tk5bn, now Tk9.6bn, CETP underway, would need 1 year for construction;

Tender floated for the second time in February 2010; a Chinese company was selected and given the work order in 2012. However, the government is yet to approve the CETP project and allocate money;

Environmentalists argue that the location sleeted and developed for the tannery estate is wrong since it has a river flowing nearby. They fear that this river and the adjacent crop lands and low-lying land could be harmed if the tanners would not follow the environmental rules.

Considering the present sorry state of the leather industries operating in Hazaribagh, people’s sufferings, degrading environment, and the necessity of advancing this industry forward, the government as the guardian of the citizens should orchestrate pro-people steps immediately while the people must act against the tannery owners in compelling them shift the hazardous units and keep pushing the government towards carrying out its duties properly. This menace cannot take place over the time.