BAN ON ENTRY OF RAWHIDE : Lax monitoring on first day, mobile courts from today

The government will use mobile court to implement its decision to not allow entry of rawhide to the tanneries at Hazaribagh from April 1.
Industries ministry secretary Mohammad Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said mobile courts will be deployed if the rawhide is still sneaked into Hazaribagh.
He was talking to New Age on Friday, the first day of the government ban on entry of rawhide to Hazaribagh. Local people said they saw a few trucks with rawhide enter the tanneries on the day.
On March 20, shipping minister Shahjahan Khan announced the ban to force errant tanners to relocate the tanneries from Hazaribagh to Savar.
The tanners have already ignored a deadline by industries minister Amir Hossain Amu to shift the tanneries in 72 hours on January 11.
Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said they would review activities of police on Sunday, the first day of the new week.
Witnesses said a truck laden with rawhide entered Hazaribagh through Gabtoli at around 3.30 pm on Friday.
Police kept the truck waiting for an hour at Sikder Medical College Hospital before allowing it to enter into Hazaribagh.
Hazaribgah police station inspector [investigation] Nazrul Islam, however, denied they had allowed anyone to bring rawhide at Hazaribagh area on Friday, defying the government order.
Police have set up four checkpoints at different entrances to Hazaribagh area and five patrol teams are scouring the area, he said.
Moniruzzaman, inspector [operation] of Hazaribagh police, said two to three trucks tried to enter the tannery area in the morning, but they backtracked due to police interception.
He said they would increase vigilance during night as rawhide-laden trucks mostly enter at that time.
Deputy commissioner of Dhaka Salah Uddin said mobile courts did not work on Fridays as it was a weekend. He said they would take out mobile courts from Saturday.
The government has been repeatedly trying to relocate the tanneries at Hazaribagh without much success until now.
A High Court order ordered the relocation of the tannery industry by February 2010 to save the river Buriganga.
In 2003, the government tasked the industries ministry to implement the relocation project in line with the High Court directive.
Bangladesh Tanners Association current president Shaheen Ahmed was not available for comment.
BTA former president MA Harun said they would negotiate with the government to relax the ban.
He said they would try to convince the industries ministry as the new factories in Savar is yet to be completed.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net