A government agency so far has been able to trace less than half of the total rawhides of animals of sacrificed during the Eid-ul-Azha this year.
Assigned by the Ministry of Industries (MoI), the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) could trace as many as 4.0 million pieces of the rawhides. Those either have been collected by tanners or preserved at district-level across the country.
However, the corporation is clueless about the remaining 5.9 million pieces of rawhides, as an estimated 9.9 million animals were sacrificed during the Eid-ul-Azha this year. Of those, 4.5 million were buffalos and cows, and the rest were goats and sheep.
Some 2.2 million pieces of rawhides lie preserved in the districts, while 1.8 million pieces of salted hides have entered the Savar Tannery Estate, according to information collected by the BSCIC through its offices across the country.
The corporation took stock of preserved rawhides recently, as a monitoring committee wanted to supervise their collection and preservation process.
The Fisheries and Livestock Ministry, Ministry of Commerce and MoI formed their monitoring teams to ensure preservation and fair price of the rawhides of sacrificial animals during the holy Eid-ul-Azha.
The stock taking was part of the monitoring process, said a BSCIC official.
He also said the issues of fair price and preservation of rawhides were being monitored with utmost importance under the direction of the Prime Minister's Office.
Contacted, deputy general manager of BSCIC Sorwar Hossain on Thursday said there are places where BSCIC does not have offices, like in villages and upazilas.
The remaining pieces of rawhides (not traced so far) could be in rural areas or big trading hubs like Posta, he added.
Day after the Eid-ul-Azha, Industries Secretary Zakia Sultana said the monitoring teams were carrying out their duties sincerely to ensure proper collection and preservation of the rawhides of sacrificial animals across the country.
She said the monitoring teams were also ensuring that there was no confusion or mismanagement over the preservation of rawhides.
Meanwhile, general secretary of Bangladesh Hide and Skin Merchants' Association Tipu Sultan said the sales were very dull in Posta. The tanners were offering prices lower than the buying prices of rawhides.
He also said they bought cow and buffalo hides at Tk 500 to Tk 700 per piece.
Nobody was buying goat skins, as their prices were so low that those did not cover even the preservation cost, let alone the money invested, he added.
© 2024 - All Rights with The Financial Express
