With the Eid-ul-Azha only a few days away, tanners are worried about processing and preservation of the several lakh pieces of rawhide that will be collected in the season. Tannery owners have set a target to procure about 80 lakh pieces of rawhide during this Eid-ul-Azha. But out of the total 154 tanneries, only 23 are functioning fully and 47 partially at the Saver tannery village as construction work is yet to be completed in these factories. This would make processing of the large quantity of rawhides a challenging task. In addition, about 50 lakh pieces of rawhide, which were procured last year, still remain unsold, posing a challenge for storing any newly collected hide, said sources.

Many tanners also said that they won’t be able to buy rawhides this year as they are yet to adjust the previous bank loans—even many of them are yet to begin their factory construction at Savar. So, it would create a huge problem to stock and process the rawhides this year too, sources told this correspondent.

Meanwhile, the state-owned scheduled banks have decided to give loans worth Tk. 735 crore to tannery-owners to purchase rawhides in the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha season. Law enforcement agencies, including the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), have been asked to strictly prevent smuggling

of rawhides. The tannery-owners are also worried about the transportation of such a huge quantity of rawhides to the newly-constructed Savar Tannery Village because of the dilapidated condition of the roads, both inside and outside the tannery village site in Savar. Talking to The Independent yesterday, Bangladesh Tanners’ Association (BTA) General Secretary Md M Shakhawatullah, however, expressed his optimism over the issues. “We held a meeting with bank officials today (Tuesday). It was decided that they will give us Tk. 735 crore as loans to procure rawhides during Eid-ul-Azha,” he said. Only those factory-owners who have already adjusted last year’s loans will get fresh loans this year, he added.

“Many factory owners won’t get the bank facility this year as their factories are still closed. This is because the factories are being relocated from Hazaribagh to Savar,” he said in reply to a query.

When asked about the tannery owners’ concern over possible crisis for storage of rawhides, the BTA official said that there will be no problem to stock 80 lakh-odd rawhides during Eid, adding that at least 100 factories will be fully ready to procure these rawhides before the Eid-ul-Azha.

“We have the capacity to stock these new rawhides despite the unsold stocks of last year’s rawhides, totalling about 50 lakh,” the BTA general secretary said in reply to a query.

He also alleged that the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) is yet to complete the road construction inside the tannery village despite repeated reminders.

“Several hundred trucks, mini-trucks, and other vehicles will carry rawhide to Savar Tannery Village in the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha season. Hence, it would be disastrous if the roads are not repaired immediately,” Shakhawatullah pointed out.

He also complained that the condition of the Hemayetpur-Singair road is very bad and vehicles often get stuck in potholes, or get their tyres punctured, and sometimes the road gets flooded.

When asked about the choked drainage system and the dilapidated condition of the roads, the project director of Savar Tannery Village, Ziaul Haque, blamed the tannery owners for the choked drains and the derelict roads.

“The tannery-owners are building their factories. They are also keeping their construction materials on the roads. These construction materials are getting mixed with rainwater and clogging the drains. It is their responsibility to repair the drains as well as the roads,” Haque argued. Earlier, the Department of Environment (DoE) had cut off gas, power and water supplies to 54 leather factories at Hazaribagh on April 8 following a Supreme Court order after the tannery owners, despite numerous courts orders and extension of deadlines by the court and the government, failed to relocate their factories from the capital to Savar tannery village.

Since then, the tannery-owners have started construction at the Savar Tannery Village site to set up their new factories. On March 6, the SC had directed the DoE to shut down tanneries that failed to relocate from Hazaribagh to the Savar Tannery industrial estate.