Recommendation for Closing Savar Leather Industrial City

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has asked to close the leather industrial city in Savar.

The recommendation came at a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on the ministry held at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban on Monday (August 23).

It is learned that the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has been advised to send a letter to the Ministry of Industries and Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) as soon as possible due to improper waste management.

At the same time, the parliamentary committee said that the decision on re-openwould be taken after taking proper steps in environmental pollution and waste management.

After the meeting, committee chairman Saber Hossain Chowdhury said, "We visited the tannery industrial city of Savar on behalf of the parliamentary committee." Besides, the Department of Environment has visited more than once. It has been found that the amount of waste management capacity is much more than the production. Fines are made at different times. But that is not a permanent solution. That's why we asked to stop.

The parliamentary committee informed the ministry that the leather industrial city of Savar produces 40,000 cubic meters of waste daily. Where the waste management capacity is 25 thousand cubic meters. In other words, 15,000 cubic meters of waste is being mixed in the environment daily. In the last three years, 1 crore 84 lakh cubic meters of waste has remained out of management.

Saber Hossain Chowdhury said that there has a system of liquid waste management in Savar, but no system for heavy metal and chromium waste management. The tannery was brought to Savar from Hazaribagh to reduce pollution. The committee has also recommended not to renew the environmental clearance that has to be taken every year for management.

The meeting was chaired by Saber Hossain Chowdhury, chairman of the committee, and was attended by members Shahab Uddin, Minister for Forest and Climate Change, Nazim Uddin Ahmed, Zafar Alam, Rezaul Karim Bablu, Khodeja Nasrin Akter Hossain and Shahin Chakladar.