shutting down Hazaribagh tanneries
SC upholds High Court order
STAFF REPORTER
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) yesterday upheld a High Court (HC) order that directed the government to immediately shut down the Hazaribagh tanneries and disconnect all their utility services, including gas, power and water lines, as they have missed several deadlines to relocate to Savar. The three-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, dismissed a petition filed by tannery owners seeking a stay on the HC order. Now, there is no legal bar for the director general of the Department of Environment to shut down the tanneries at Hazaribagh and disconnect all their utility services following the apex court order, Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) chief executive Syeda Rizwana Hasan said.
The chairman of Bangladesh Finished Leather, Leather Goods and Footwear Exporters Association filed an appeal petition before the SC on Thursday seeking a stay on the HC order.
In response to a petition filed by BELA, the HC bench of Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed and Justice Md Salim had on March 6 directed the government to immediately shut down the tanneries operating at Hazaribagh in Dhaka. The HC bench asked the home ministry, the environment ministry and the industries ministry, as well as the inspector general of police (IGP), to assist the Department of Environment to shut down the tanneries.
The HC bench also asked the government to submit a report before it on April 6, after implementing its order. When asked about the HC order, Kazi Sarwar Imtiaz Hashmi, acting director general of the Department of Environment, yesterday told The Independent that they will take immediate steps to shut down all the tanneries that are yet to be relocated from Hazaribagh to Savar. Well cut off the gas, power and water lines to those factories after getting the copy of the courts order. Well also seize all equipment so that they cant run these factories, he added. In 2001, the HC had directed the government to shift the factories from Hazaribagh to Savar in light of the critical situation of the Buriganga river due to regular discharge of highly toxic chemical wastes from the tanneries.
By 2003, untreated wastes from more than 200 tanneries had virtually turned the Buriganga into a noxious pool. Following a writ petition filed by BELA, the HC in June 2009 directed the tannery owners to move their factories from Hazaribagh to Savar. However, the government extended the relocation deadline several times following requests from the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporationthe implementing agency of the tannery estate project. In December last year, the industries secretary issued a notice saying that no raw leather will enter Hazaribagh after March 31, 2017 and no tannery will operate there after the same date. On January 3 this year, BELA submitted the petition to the HC, saying that the industries secretary cannot extend the time for relocating the tanneries from Hazaribagh without permission from the HC. Advocate Fida M Kamal appeared for BELA, while Barrister Fazle Noor Taposh moved for the tannery owners.
