Editorial
Tannery relocation and river demarcation
Long overdue steps must be implemented at once
WE welcome the recent High Court judgment that directed the capital city's tanneries to shift from their present location in Hazaribagh to Savar by February 28, 2010, as per an earlier HC directive.
We are particularly gratified to note that the HC directive is time-bound and has a concrete time-frame specified, both for the shifting of the tanneries, and also for the demarcation of the rivers around the capital which the HC has directed be completed within the next four months.
It is this time-framing that is the key to action, and we urge the government to be expeditious in carrying out these directives. Indeed, much field work has already been done on the issues of industrial waste and how to alleviate the problem, and now is the time for us to build on the existing knowledge and bring it to bear on resolving the crisis that the capital city faces.
Of course, there remains the possibility that influential parties whose bottom line will be negatively affected by the reforms contemplated may try to delay this action. They may even produce documents of ownership for encroached-upon land and try to tie up the entire processes in legal complications. This has happened in the past and is undoubtedly likely to be attempted this time around, as well.
The courts are expected to be alive to any attempts to try to derail this bold reform process that they have now initiated, and to be vigilant that steps to circumvent their directives are not successful. Too often in the past seemingly overly-generous grants of stay orders and other legal maneuvers have continually stymied efforts to safeguard the public good, and it would be a shame if that were to be repeated
The HC directives have electrified the citizenry and made people hopeful that wholesale change for the better and in service of the common good is possible. We at The Daily Star share this enthusiasm and fervently hope that the HC directives are fully complied with.
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