The High Court (HC) on Thursday ordered to stop all operations of the SAF tannery located on the banks of the Bhairab river in Jessore Abhaynagar upazila until receiving the environment clearance certificate. Reportedly, the SAF tannery has been operating since 1980 without setting up ETP and environment clearance certificate.
Tannery waste management has been a perpetual problem since the inception of tannery industry in Bangladesh. Tanneries of capital’s Hazaribagh polluted Buriganga and adjacent areas for a long time. However, in the face of a huge public outcry, the tanneries of Dhaka’s Hazaribagh were relocated to Savar. The consequences of such relocation has had been paradoxical as the shifting yet has rarely been able to borne fruit. Moreover, the waste generated in Savar tannery estate has been contaminating the Dhaleshwari River and jeopardising the environment and public health in the area.
What is more disappointing is that the Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) of the new tannery estate is not functioning properly even after a long time of its inauguration and thus the entire exercise of the relocation has come under question due to its unplanned waste management.
Measures should be devised
immediately to prevent unplanned
dumping of tannery waste into
rivers and waterbodies
Reportedly, the Tannery Industrial Estate has the capacity to treat around 25,000 cubic metres of liquid waste every day, but the tanners generate around 40,000 cubic metres of liquid waste per day. That means 15,000 cubic metres are dumped into the Dhaleshwari River without any treatment. Considering the inefficacy of CETP, earlier, the parliamentary standing committee on the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has recommended to shut down the Savar Tannery Industrial Estate.
Authorities concerned must take necessary steps to reinvigorate the waste disposal, waste treatment and waste management system of Savar tannery estate. CETP's capacity to treat all kinds of tannery wastes must be enhanced.
Also, there is a need for developing a strategic and legal framework to manage the wastes of the tanneries. Last but not least, measures should be devised immediately to prevent unplanned dumping of tannery waste into the Dhaleshwari River and adjacent areas