Tannery yet to be shifted to Savar
Public life intolerable due to tannery
Staff Correspondent
“It is not a place for human habitation as foul odours of raw hide covers the area all the time. Specially after the Eid-ul-Azha, it is very difficult to stay here as thousands of raw hides from different places of the country are sent here for processing,” Mohammad Anwar Hossain, a local resident, expressing disappointment told The Bangladesh Today on Thursday.
People living in Hazaribagh area have been facing various problems and difficulties as the tannery has not been shifted to another area although all previous governments committed to transfer it to Savar.
During visit to Hazaribagh area and Bengal Leather Complex, Finix Leather Complex, Karim Leather Complex, Lexco Ltd and Rupali Tannery, the tannery workers and local people narrated their sufferings and difficulties in working in the tannery industry to this reporter.
A resident Abdur Razzak Hawlader said the environment pollution and bad smell have become intolerable after Eid-ul-Azha as a huge collection of raw hides of sacrificial animal has been piled in Hazaribagh area. “Throug-hout the year we suffer from stink due to tannery processing in the area. Moreover, after Eid-ul-Azha businessmen have collected and piled up huge number of raw hides indiscriminately deteriorating the environment further,” he added.
“Hazaribagh area has already become uninhabitable. But we who are house-owners, in the area have been living here for long, have no scope for shifting our immoveable establishments. On human ground, the government should shift the tannery industries to another place as soon as possible,” a house owner Abul Kashem said.
Shohel Hossain, an employee of tannery industry, said they are passing days in inhuman condition for years due to various diseases caused by the environment degradation. Poor salary is pushing their lives to uncertainty and they cannot afford treatment to cure these diseases, he added. “An employee was paid only TK. 65 per day. We are totally unable to run our normal life by this poor amount of salary. We don’t know what is waiting for us as the overall condition of tannery industry is not well,” he added.
Talking to this reporter, staff in charge of ‘Lexco Ltd’ said the quantity of export of hides is less than that of previous years and last year’s huge quantity of hides are yet to be exported due to global economic recession. “A gloomy situation is prevailing in the leather industry and a number of workers started leaving their job due to poor salary,” he added.
243 tanneries out of total 270 in Bangladesh are situated in Hazaribagh, Boubazar and Kalinagar areas in the capital. Around 65,000 workers are directly involved in the tannery industry. Tannery businessmen have been operating business in Hazaribagh since 1950. As the place in Savar is not ready for them, they cannot move suddenly, a source confirmed.
Courtesy: thebangladeshtoday.com
