No tannery completes relocation in 6 years

Not a single tannery has fully shifted to Savar from Hazaribagh in six years even after repeated extension of deadlines.
Tannery owners said it was impossible on their part to shift their units in two days, when the latest deadline expires, because their construction work was ‘underway.’
While the government blamed the tannery owners ‘mentality’ for the delay, tannery owners blamed the government for not handing over the layout plan of building structures in time.
On Sunday, the tanneries are set to miss yet another deadline.
According to updated information of Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation, construction work is going on at all 143 units out of 155 units of tannery, on 199.40 acres of land divided into 205 plots. Twelve units are tied up in ownership conflict.
Among the under-construction factories, 45 are undergoing piling work, 39 are still at the foundation stage, and 59 factories are at various stages of putting up the roof.
Only four to five factories, including Reliance Tannery Ltd, have started collecting rawhide for their unit but are yet to start operations, said BSCIC officials.
Environmental rights group Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon sent a team to visit
the Savar site on Friday and reported, through a press release, that less than 50 per cent of the construction work had been completed.
‘We hope that within eight to 10 days we will go into operation. To keep the supply chain normal, my Hazaribagh unit will also be running as usual,’ said Reliance tannery managing director Md Shahjahan Miah.
The director of the tannery relocation project of BSCIC Abdul Quayum said ‘30 tanneries applied for water connection and 60 applied for gas connection so far.’
On June 23, 2009, the HC asked owners of tanneries in Hazaribagh to vacate the area by February 28, 2010 to reduce environmental pollution.
The government took up the project of relocation of tanneries to save the environment, and allotted a total of Tk 1078.71 crore to it, where Tk 250 is to be directly given to tannery owners as compensation.
On January 10, the industries minister gave a 72-hour ultimatum to the tannery owners to relocate, and later issued legal notices to 142 tanneries. The ultimatum came on the back of the expiration a deadline for relocation, which ended on December 31 last year. Later again, the government extended the time to March 31.
In the latest move, the government extended the duration to April 10.
Earlier, the government had also sought extensions before the High Court to complete the relocation. On July 3, 2011, the government sought a final extension of two years for relocation of tanneries.
A total of 126 tanneries have received Tk 60.28 crore of the total compensation money.
Thirty-one tanneries got 40 percent of their allotted money, while the remainder got 20 per cent.
Meanwhile, tannery owners termed the latest deadline ‘illogical’ and said they need at least five more months to shift.
They also blamed the government for the delay, claiming they were got given the layout plan on time, while the government were yet to fully complete the infrastructure.
Owner of Mother Tannery, Md Awlad Hossain, said ‘to set up heavy machineries we need a heavy structure… within six months we will be ready to shift.’
Bangladesh Tanners Association president Md Shaheen Ahmed speaking to New Age claimed the government was ‘planning to destroy the industry by putting pressure on the tannery owners.’
‘If they once again stop rawhide entry to Hazaribagh it will encourage rawhide trafficking to nearby countries,’ he said.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net