Realise compensation from Hazaribagh tanneries for polluting Buriganga: Poba

Green activists demanded on Saturday that Tk 25.29 billion be realised from the owners of Hazaribagh tanneries as compensation for polluting the Buriganga river, the lifeline of the city, reports UNB.

They came up with the demand at a press conference organised by Poribesh Bachao Andolon (Poba) at its office in the capital.

The tanneries located in the city's Hazaribagh area are the major source of pollution of the Buriganga.

According to a Poba report released in March this year, about 21,000 cubic metres of untreated toxic waste is released every day from the Hazaribagh tanneries into the river.

Speaking at the press conference, Poba chairman Abu Naser Khan said the government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with two private organisations to ensure the relocation of Hazaribagh tanneries to the tannery estate in Savar by December, 2014, but the progress of the project is very insignificant.

"A total of 155 tanneries will be relocated to Savar from Hazaribagh. But the relocation work of only 19 tanneries has started until September 13, 2014. So, it's quite impossible to relocate all the tanneries to Savar within the stipulated time," he said.

On October 13, 2013, the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) signed an MoU with Bangladesh Tanners Association

(BTA) and Bangladesh Finished Leather, Leather-goods and Footwear

Exporters Association (BFLLFEA) for the relocation of Hazaribagh tanneries.

Abu Naser said if the BTA and BFLLFEA fail to shift the tanneries within the end of the year, they should be compelled to return the money the government has invested in the project.