As the Savar Leather Industrial City is failing to ensure treatment of heavy metal waste and risking the environment of the particular area, the authorities concerned have proposed to close the industrial city.
Industry insiders said the sudden decision could hit the sector very hard.
The Standing Committee on the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has recommended the closure of Savar Leather Industrial City due to its failure to protect the environment, and inefficiency in waste management, on August 23.
However, the parliamentary committee has also opined that the decision to reopen the industrial city would be made if proper steps could be taken to manage environmental pollution and waste.
General Secretary of the Tannery Workers’ Union Abdul Malek said’ “The CETP, which would have been environmentally friendly, was not installed. People who are involved with this tannery city development need to be asked why such a competitive treatment plant is set up here.”
Leaders of the Tanners Association claimed that the industrial owners have invested a few thousand crores in shifting from Hazaribagh to the leather industrial city of Savar. After 16 years, the leather industry is returning to normalcy, but it is deteriorating due to mismanagement of waste treatment in the BSCIC industrial city.
General Secretary of the Bangladesh Tanners Association Shakhawat Ullah said, “Those who were consultants had majority responsibilities for development of this industrial city. They needed to think more about what would happen in the next 10 or 20 years.”
As the leather industry is still not ready to deal with heavy waste management like chromium and polluting the environment, several environmentalists, besides the parliamentary standing committee, have also urged the government to shut the tannery city.
According to government information the leather industrial city of Savar produces 40,000 cubic meters of waste daily. There is a waste management capacity of 25,000 cubic meters, which means 15,000 cubic meters of waste is being mixed in the environment daily. In the last three years, 1.64 crore cubic meters of waste has remained out of management.
Before the completion of the various components of the CETP, 130 industries started production. Earlier, Hazaribagh waste and polluted chemicals were mixed in the water of Buriganga River, now the waste of the Savar leather industry is mixing with the water of the Dhaleshwari River.