Environment Ministry has started taking steps to implement the recommendation of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Environment to close the Savar Tannery Complex.
Chairman of Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSIC) has been requested to send a clear explanation as to why the Savar Tannery Complex will not be closed as per the recommendation of the parliamentary committee by September 20, 2021, said a release here.
The request was made in a letter signed by the Director General of the Department of Environment Mohammad Ashraf Uddin on 9 September 2021.
“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, causing severe pollution,” Saber Hossain Chowdhury, chief of the parliamentary watchdog, told reporters.
According to the decision of the 21st meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Environment, it was recommended to close the tannery complex in an emergency basis, as the committee found that the waste management was not being done properly as per the provisions of the relevant law.
In the meeting, it was also stated that in the future, if the complex is operated in accordance with the provisions of the law, the issue of reopening may be considered, the release added.
The parliamentary watchdog also recommended collecting maximum compensation through fines till the closure.
In 2003, the government had taken the initiative to build the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industry Corporation (BSCIC) Tannery Industrial Estate on 200 acres at Hemayetpur after moving all tanneries from the capital’s Hazaribagh in order to prevent environmental pollution and to protect the Buriganga.
