Editorial
HC directive on tanneries' relocation
The process must begin in earnest now
THE directives issued by the High Court that the tanneries in the city's Hazaribagh area relocate by February 2010 or face closure and the DOE have the industries set up ETPs by June next year are welcome. We are happy to note that judicial activism is now beginning to have an impact and that we can now expect positive action on the tanneries issue. We also register our appreciation for the spirit in which bodies such as the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) have for years together struggled to uphold the public interest through seeking action against environmental pollution.
The ball is clearly in the court of the government and the tannery owners. In terms of a 2003 memorandum of understanding between the government and tannery owners and footwear exporters, the government was supposed to set up a central effluent treatment plant (CETP). Sadly the agreement has not materialised to-date. It appears now that the caretaker government re-examined the cost of the proposed CETP putting it at Tk. 350 crore and asking the industry owners to share the burden of the cost. Of course, the tannery owners balked at the suggestion. The clear need now, therefore, is for the government to engage tannery owners in a meaningful dialogue that will lead to a swift implementation of the HC directives together with efforts toward reaching a deal on the proposed leather estate.
Where establishing the CETP is concerned, Tk. 350 crore need not, however, be such a whopping or forbidding figure that it cannot be garnered. In the current climate of resource mobilisation drive that the government is about to embark on it should be possible to devise ways and means for a shifting of the tanneries away from the city.
Overall, the HC ruling on the issue is highly gratifying for the country. Let us now see the results, through meaningful cooperation between and decisive action by the government and the tannery owners.
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