A parliamentary body today recommended shutting down the Tannery Industrial Estate in Hemayetpur of Savar immediately, as it does not have adequate facilities to treat all the liquid waste generated every day.

The parliamentary standing committee on the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change came up with the recommendations during a meeting at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban today.

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“The Tannery Industrial Estate has the capability of treating around 25,000 cubic metres of liquid waste every day. On the other hand, the industry generates around 40,000 cubic metres of liquid waste per day meaning 15,000 cubic metres are dumped into the river without any treatment causing severe pollution to the environment,” Saber Hossain Chowdhury, chief of the parliamentary watchdog told reporters.

The most alarming matter is that the Tannery Industrial Estate does not have the facility of treating solid waste which includes heavy metal and chromium, he added.

The Ministry of Environment will send a letter to the Ministry of Industry immediately asking the latter to close down the estate in Hemayetpur.

Due to pollution, the Department of Environment (DOE) last year did not renew the environmental clearance license of the tannery estate and the committee also recommended not renewing it unless it complies with the indicators, Saber also said.

“What was the benefit in relocating the tannery industry from Hazaribagh to Savar if this industry pollutes the environment,” added the committee chief.

When asked Mushtaq Hossain, chairman, Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC), said, they will take the next course of action after going through the recommendations of the parliamentary body.

In 2003, the government had taken the initiative to build the BSCIC Tannery Industrial Estate on 200 acres of land at Hemayetpur by shifting all tanneries from Hazaribagh to the capital to prevent environmental pollution and to protect the Buriganga River.

There are around 160 tannery industries at present in the leather industrial park, sources at the meeting said.