A boy crosses over a puddle of chemical and leather waste at Harazibagh:Dhaka's Hazaribagh area, widely known for its tannery industry, has been listed as one of the top 10 polluted places on earth with 270 registered tanneries in Bangladesh, and around 90-95 percent are located at Hazaribagh on about 25 hectares of land, employing 12,000 to 16,000 people. The homes of tannery workers are built next to contaminated streams, ponds, and canals. Informal leather recyclers who burn scraps of leather to produce a number of consumer products also heavily pollute the air. Half a million people living in and around Hazaribagh are suffering and living a hazardous life because of these tanneries. Locals allege they frequently require treatment for skin diseases, fever, cough, gastroenteritis and asthma. At least 90 percent of the Hazaribag tannery workers die before they reach the age of 50 due to unhygienic working-environment. They also suffer from abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhoea, allergy, burning sensation in the chest, throat, palm and toes, urinary problems and pain in the body, waist, legs, back, throat, neck, shoulder and ankles. Most of these tannery workers are not aware of the precautionary and safety measures at work  The treatment facility of this waste management has not yet developed in Hazaribagh. There is no central treatment plant for treating the liquid waste and controlling the use of chemicals in harmful quantity. As a result, the entire liquid tannery wastes carried by the city corporations drains deposit in the low land, west of Hazaribagh. The solid wastes (tiny pieces of leather, excess fat, flesh and hair) are piled up at roadsides in front of the tanneries. Later, these are also thrown into the same low land. Ultimately, these liquid and solid wastes make their way into the Buriganga River. Although the environmental protection laws require the tanners to set up ETPs in the factories, owners never did so causing serious environmental peril.

http://fotovisura.com/user/probalrashid/view/hazaribagh-threaten-bangladeshA child sits on the tannery waste while his mother works in the tannery recycle factory in Hazaribagh. Dhaka’s Hazaribagh’s area, widely known for its tannery industry, has been listed as one of the top 10 polluted places on Earth. Households are forced to endure the highly toxic water flowing in cannals at Hazaribagh in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Workers of a tannery factory dyes leather in Hazaribagh, Dhaka. Biplod (age 12 years) works at tannery in Hazaribagh, Dhaka. Workers are boiling the waste leather materials in open spaces in Hazaribagh, DhakaFarmers wash vegetables for selling on the contaminated pond of water at HazaribaghA dumpy yard next to the residential area of Hazaribagh. Households are forced to live in the highly polluted area. Children play on the waste products of tannery factories at Hazaribagh, Dhaka, BangladeshSanaul (age 12 years) customizes a mask for himself at Hazaribagh, Dhaka, BangladeshA child with his family lives in a slum near the tannery factories in Hazaribagh.

A victim of tannery factories sits in a hospital in Dhaka, suffering from asthma. Chemical toxic and lack of labor protection and safety equipments in Hazaribagh later tanneries. Solid wastes pile up at roadsides infornt of the tanneries. Workers of a tannery factory dye leatherChemical toxic and lack of labor protection and safety equipments in Hazaribagh later tanneries. Untreated toxic waste from tanneries in Hazaribagh.Dogs sits near sewer and contaminated pond of water in Hazaribagh, Dhaka,

HAZARIBAGH LEATHER INDUSTRY AND SLUMS IN BANGLADESHhttp://www.sos-arsenic.net/english/environment/leatherindustry.html

INTRODUCTIONBangladesh has a very limited stock of known mineral resources (only natural gas is being extracted commercially), and the economy is heavily dependent on small-scale agriculture. Agriculture accounts for about 40 per cent of Bangladesh's GDP and about 60 per cent of employment.

Landless small farmers and as well as urban informal groups constitute 50 per cent of Bangladesh's population. Fifty three per cent of rural population are virtually landless and the result of that a very large percentage of urban population live in slums.For example 30 per cent of the population (about 2 million) in Dhaka live in more than 1500 slums and squatter settlements, where density of settlements is over 6178 persons per hectare and per capita living space available is lower than one square meter. The structural conditions of the shelters are one of the worst in the world. The settlements live without open space, streets, water, gas and electricity, water, sanitation and sewerage facilities.Since these settlements are illegal the Government or International Aid Agencies have hardly any project to improve living quality of the poorest population of the country. Like many other cities of the developing countries the population of Dhaka city increased by almost 200 per cent in seven years (1974-81) due to the increasing developments of landless peasants.The present economic development increasingly widens the gap between the poor and the rich. The limited agricultural land does not allow any further expansion along with the fast expanding population of working age. In view of this problem the Government of Bangladesh is planning for a rapid increase in industry, commerce and services (55.7 per cent of GDP). At present industrial manufacturing accounts for about 10 per cent of GDP in Bangladesh and 10 per cent of total employment, and contributes about three-quarters of total merchandise exports. The earliest industries in Bangladesh were based primarily on agricultural products like jute, sugarcane, tobacco, forest raw materials, and hides and skins.During the mid-sixties a modern industrial base emerged as heavy industries like steel, machine tools, electric machines, diesel plants, refineries, pharmaceutical plants and other chemical industries were set up. From 1985 to 1990 the industrial sector achieved an average annual rate of growth of 4.02 per cent. In recent years, the major source of industrial growth has been in

textiles, with ready-made garment manufacture expanding from insignificance in the 1970s to the leading export earner today. Leather tanning and brackish water shrimp farming have also expanded rapidly and are expected to grow further.With the increase of unplanned and socially and environmentally degraded industries Bangladesh poses a new challenge. Pollution and human-induced hazards are particularly serious in the developing nations, because industrial production is heavily concentrated in one or two city regions or 'core regions' within each nation.The industrial areas in Bangladesh are situated in the midst of densely populated regions. There are many hazardous and potentially dangerous polluting industries situated in the cities of Bangladesh. In Dhaka at Tejgaon area, food processing industries are situated along with chemical and heavy metal processing industries. In Tongi a pharmaceutical industry is situated near a pesticide producing industry.Tannery industries of Hazaribagh also situated in a heavily populated residential area. These examples are repeated in the cities of Chittagong, Khulna and other smaller cities of Bangladesh. The Government of Bangladesh has not shown much interest in environmental impact created by the industries, whereas government's concern to create jobs usually meant that when a new factory is proposed - by local, national or international business or agency - little attention is given to the likely environmental impacts.

Tanneries discharge 21,600 square meters of liquid wastes dailyTanneries in the city's Hazaribagh area discharge some 21,600 square meters of liquid wastes everyday. "These harmful wastes, including chromium, lead, sulphur, ammonium, salt and other materials, are severely polluting the capital city and the river Buriganga," State Minister for Environment and Forest Jafrul Islam Chowdhury said this while he was visiting the Hazaribagh industrial area yesterday.(UNB, November 2003)

Many urban dwellers live on sites prone to hazards - rarely the government tries to help reduce risks or to respond rapidly and effectively, if a disaster happens. Hazardous sites are often occupied illegally; the risk of eviction from such sites is small because of any commercial value or because they are publicly owned and the government shall not force their eviction for political reasons. The outcome of this are:

Houses are built without providing basic amenities like water and sanitation; Slum-lords manipulated the whole show by renting the houses to others and

expropriating exorbitant amount of money;There are many disasters which have an impact which goes far beyond a particular house or neighbourhood, as a result of industrial or other accidents. Bhopal shows an example, when an industrial accident in 1984 released methyl iso-cyanate and caused the death over 3000 with perhaps 100,000 or more seriously injured or poisoned. The situation like Bhopal threatens many places in Bangladesh.While the most polluted industries are decreasing in the industrial countries a rapid increase in more environmentally degraded industries

(without effluent treatments) occurring in the developing countries. The economic development in Bangladesh is producing more landless people and at the same time the landless and jobless poor are gathering in cities slums.A typical example is Hazaribagh leather industry in Dhaka. The leather industry is situated in the midst of a densely populated residential area surrounded by slums, where people are living ignorantly in the one of the worst polluted areas in the world. The condition to describe the living conditions of the slums is beyond authors capability (see Figures). The leather export is growing and at the same time conditions of the poor are deteriorating. A case study of Hazaribagh industrial area is proposed in this paper.BACKGROUND

Leather sector also produces 150 tons solid waste a dayThe leather industry sector, which is the fourth largest foreign exchange earner of the country contributing about six per cent of total export earnings, produces 150 metric tons of solid waste every day contaminating the environment and water of the metropolis. 

59 per cent of the total wastage comes from processing of hides and skin, and accumulates in the swamp-sludge, experts in the environment sector said. The experts said, "part of the solid waste is collected by the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) and taken to landfill sites."

A recent research conducted by Professor S M Imamul Huq, Chairperson of Soil, Water and Environment Department of Dhaka University revealed that out of 214 tanneries in the country, except for two BATA and Dhaka Leather Complex-none of the tanneries has a treatment plant as required by the law. 

Rice and wheat were grown in a pot experiment in soils from the tannery area. The wheat showed delayed maturity and stunting growth while rice showed late flowering and maturity with dark green colour. In another experiment it was observed that application of tannery effluents to soils of differing textures resulted in reduction of yield of rice, the research said adding that the adverse effect was more pronounced in light soils than in heavy soils. The effluent was also found to negatively affect performance, nodulation and growth of mung beans (dal). 

In his research article named "Critical Environmental Issues Relating to Tanning Industries in Bangladesh," Professor Imamul Huq said, "most of the waste effluents are subjected to natural decomposition in the environment, causing serious pollution problems affecting soil, water, air and human life." 

The finding said that the existing industries in most cases do not have any effluent treatment plants for neutralising the toxicity and harmful effects of their pollutants. 

The research recommended building of appropriate waste treatment plants for neutralising harmful chemicals before disposal of the waste into the environment and called upon the government to fix a legal limit value for discharge of tannery effluent to surface water. 

Stressing the need for treatment methods to combat pollution including segregation of processed waste water, sedimentation, neutralisation and biological treatment, the paper said that about half the tanneries apply some kind of solid waste reuse, while 90 per cent of the finished trimming wastes are used by the local shoemakers.

The research said, "the process of tanning produces both liquid and solid wastes. Solid wastes are from the initial and final stages of processing while the effluents are produced mostly during tanning and dying." The 149 operating tanneries produce 14910 metric tons of effluents or waste water during the peak time, about 9100 metric tons during the off-peak period, the research paper said adding that the effluents contain dissolved lime, hydrogen sulfide, acids, chromium dyes, oils, organic matter and suspended solids. 

"The waste water is discharged into open drains and ultimately finds way onto land surface and into natural waters in the vicinity," the research revealed. It says "about 3000 tons of sodium sulfide and nearly 3000 tons of basic chromium sulfate are used each year for leather processing and tanning." The other chemicals used in the tanning industry are non-ionic wetting agents, bactericides, soda ash, calcium oxide, ammonium sulfate, ammonium chloride, enzymes, sodium bisulfate, sodiumchlorite, sodium hypochlorite, sodium chloride, sulfuric acid, formic acid, sodium formate, sodium bicarbonate, vegetable tannins, syntans, resins, polyurethane, dyes, fatemulsions, pigments, binders, waxes, lacquers and formaldehyde. 

Out of 214 tanneries, 200 are located near the capital’s river systems – the Turag to north-west, the Buriganga to the south-west and the Sitalakhya to the south-east, with Turag flowing into the Buriganga.

The tanneries discharge the effluents and wastes into the river system causing a large area of acid sludge alongside the flood protection embankment and the liquid wastes are dumped in the river through a flood control regulator-cum-sluice.

During monsoon months, the flood protection embankments protect Dhaka from heavy flooding

while making it difficult to flush-out waste water, thereby creating environmental hazard. During the dry season the waste water is flushed out into the river causing pollution of the river water and affecting the aquatic flora and fauna. The dumping of the solid wastes is seriously affecting the soil and plants, besides vitiating the air, groundwater and human health.

The water quality of the river Buriganga during wet season and dry season are heavily polluted so that dissolved oxygen in the river water is found to be nil during the dry season and no fish or other aquatic animals can live in this condition.

(Source: The Independent, May 09, 2006)

The annual supply of hides and skins in Bangladesh is estimated to be about 13.95 million square meters. Only 15-18 per cent of the total supply is needed to meet the domestic requirements and the rest about 11.81 million square meters remains surplus for export.The small leather industry of Indian-subcontinent developed Indian vegetable tanned crust over a hundred years ago to preserve the hide in the safest way to suit Indian conditions. The development of leather processing industry was started in Bangladesh in the late 1940s.Until mid 1960s, the leather was dominated by vegetable tannage for supply to W. Pakistan, Iran and Turkey. Manufacture of wet blue, the chrome tanned semiprocessed leather started featuring in 1965. There was a rapid growth of tanning industry in Bangladesh during 1970s and by the end of 70s. Until 1980-81, the export from leather sector was almost 100% in the form of wet blue, the chrome tanned semi-processed leatherIn 1977 the Government of Bangladesh imposed export duty on wet blue leather so that the industry produces crust and finished leather. With the ban on wet blue export from July, 1990, the leather industry of Bangladesh is entering into second phase of its development, the conversion of finished leather into further value added leather products to earn more foreign exchange. Promotion and Protection Act of 1980 provides protection of foreign investment in Bangladesh. There are German, Italian etc. joint venture plants are established in Bangladesh (M/S H. H. leather Industries Ltd, M/S BATA, M/S Lexco Ltd, M/S Apex Tannery Ltd).The operation in tanning which give rise effluents may be categorised into pre-tanning and post-tanning processes. Pre-tanning is employed mainly for the removal of impurities from the raw materials. These consist largely of protein (blood, hair, etc.) and the process chemicals employed include salts, lime and sulphides. The tanning processes themselves are used to alter the characteristics of skin or hide and their effluents contain chromium and vegetable or synthetic tanning. Post-tanning process include coloration and produce effluents typical of these addition processes; that is, containing residues of dyestuffs or pigments and larger quantities of auxiliary chemicals.

The process chemicals employed are a variety of inorganic and organic materials, affecting total solids, pH, COD and of particular importance are the applicable quantities of sulphide and of heavy metals.Hazardous chemicals for leather and dyes treatments are Ammonium Bicarbonate, Chromic Acetate, Ethylene Glycol Monoethyl Ether, Methylamine, o-Nitrophenol, Toulene Diamine, 2,4,5-Trichlorphenol, Zinc Hydrosulfite, Zinc Sulfate, tert-Butylamine, Cadmium Nitrate, Cadmium (II) Acetate, Copper(2)Nitrate, 1,4-1,8 Dichloronaphthalene, Nickel Sulfate, o-Xylene, Zinc Nitrate etc. For example Chromic Acetate shows the following characteristics (Sax, 1986):

Potential for Accumulation: Positive Food Chain Contamination Potential: Positive, can be concentrated in food chain. Etiologic Potential: Chrome ulcer Carciniogenecity: Potential, higher occurrence of lung cancer Acute hazard Level: Extremely toxic if ingested or inhaled. Corrosive to living

tissue. Degree of Hazard to Public Health: Highly toxic material via ingestion or

inhalation. Corrosive to skin and mummer; potential carcinogenic.At present in Bangladesh the tanner's basic wet process technique is to treat the stock with increasing concentrations of process chemicals using water as the carrier. In order to ensure full penetration of the thickest hide or skin in the batch, these concentrations are in excess of what is needed and the unabsorbed chemicals are discharged in the effluent, where they are a waste and cause expensive treatment problems.While the Chemical companies in the Federal Republic of Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Spain and Italy provide short term training on the application of their chemicals, Whereas they do not provide any assistance how to treat toxic effluents that increasingly contaminate surface and ground water. Consultant provide technological transfer and management either on arm's length fee paying basis on assignment or financed by the World Bank, UNIDO, ITC or other United agencies.The small cottage tanners of Hazaribagh producing sandal leather out of cow heads are probably the only tanning group in the world using waste tanning liquor from the modern tanners as their process liquor. But after using these waste are eventually discharged, as are all other tannery discharges in the Hazaribagh tanning effluents into the streets, gutters and sewers which ultimately enter surface and ground water.According to Dittfurth and Röhring (1987) about 250 different toxic chemicals and heavy metals like cadmium, chromium, arsenic, zinc etc. are used by the leather industry. When the local industry was basically a vegetable tanning complex, this effluent might have been high in BOD and unpleasant but particularly dangerous.There is, in addition, an extremely hazardous air pollution occur in Hazaribagh which is not known in any other places of the world. The rest treated hides and skins are cooked in open air to obtain glue for the

local market. They burn treated leather pieces instead of coal or wood as it is cheaper. The smog and the smell like a witch cooking pot and it is beyond author's capability to narrate. The most hazard occurs when the poorer group uses poisonous treated leather pieces as an alternative fuel to cook regular meals.No body knows how much harm and potential carcinogen diseases will occur to the slum inhabitants. There is no warning from the Government or aid giving agencies or their representatives. This is the vicious circle that the poorest groups are the worst victims of the foreign currency earning schemes.We welcome the directives by the High Court to the government on relocation of the tanneries from Hazaribagh area to Savar in eighteen months' time. We were nothing short of happy when the Prime Minister had announced quite a while ago her government's decision to relocate the tannery plants from a densely populated area to a more suitable exclusive zone. But sadly it has so far remained a declaration of intent only and a mere announcement. The agencies concerned have made little headway in relocating the tannery industrie.Big concerns or influential persons (about 80 per cent of the members of the parliament in Bangladesh are traders ) do not care for environment or existing laws:

Tannery being built defying High Court orderIt also asked the government to explain why it should not be directed to shift the industries from the area within 18 months. The new industry is springing up just opposite to the Shikdar Medical College inside the embankment in Hazaribagh. Half of the construction is already complete with the owner dredging out the river and filling up the low land. Nurul Alam is the owner of the new industry named 'Millat Tannery' and he is well aware of the High Court order. 

"I know about the order and the government's relocation procedure. But it will take time. So I am investing on this. I will also shift my industry when others will shift theirs," Nurul Alam said. He believes nothing will happen in two to three years, as the government's project regarding relocation of the tannery industry has not been approved as yet at the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council meeting 

Meanwhile, the water of Buriganga river has become black and mucky due to continuous inflow of untreated tannery effluents. The tannery units release nearly22,000 cubic metres of untreated toxic waste everyday to the Buriganga River. According to the local people, the condition of the river is the worst (Daily Star March 25, 2003).

Toxic tannery waste posing health riskFactory relocation stuck in red tape

Buriganga river posing serious threat to human health as relocation of the factories is caught in bureaucratic tangle. Reluctance of the owners to move those flouting High Court orders is also delaying the process. 

The HC directives, demands of the civil society and campaigns by the media have all gone in

vain as the tannery owners and the government have been blaming each other for not taking action in this regard. In June 2009, the HC expressed frustration over industrial pollution, and observed that the government has not taken any step to prevent pollution by industries. 

The court in its judgement ordered the authorities concerned to complete relocation of the leather industry to Savar by February 28, 2010. Failing to do so, the government had filed a petition with the HC seeking two more years for the job. 

The HC then extended the time till August 28 the same year asking the industries ministry to submit a report within six months on the actions taken to move those out of the city's residential areas. But the government again failed to do the job and kept on seeking more time from the court every six months. 

"We're trying our level best. But I'm not sure when they will be relocated," said Mahbubur Rahman, project director of Savar Leather Estate of Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC), who is also responsible for implementing the relocation. Asked why they are taking so much time, he said, "It took nearly one year to complete the technical evaluation of the central effluent treatment plant (ETP) and submit it to the government. 

"But surely, things are progressing. We've recommended four ETPs with five million cubic metres of toxic waste treatment facilities for 155 industrial units." The relocation process started nearly 10 years ago following a HC verdict in 2001. The government undertook a project to develop the leather estate at Harinbari in Savar at the cost of Tk 500 more than five years ago. The estate, however, remains unused and empty. 

Sources say the relocation is being delayed as the government and the tannery owners could not reach any consensus about compensation and bank loan. Even the project director is unaware

about the compensation and loan issues -- two major demands of the tannery owners.  

The polluters who earn around Tk 1,600 crore by exporting leather goods remain adamant demanding compensation of Tk 1,090 crore from the government along with soft loan and readymade central ETPs at taxpayers' money. "We're asking Tk 1,090 crore in compensation. But we haven't heard anything from the government yet," said Shahin Ahmed, president of Bangladesh Tanners' Association. 

Now the government proposes for sharing the cost of setting up the central ETPs, which will require more than Tk 300 crore. "But we signed a memorandum of understanding in 2003 with the government, and the government agreed to set up ETPs at its cost," said Shahin. He also said they demand the compensation, as they will have to build new infrastructures and repair machinery that will be damaged during relocation. 

Although the environmental protection laws require the tanners to set up ETPs in their factories, they never did so causing serious environmental peril. 

The residents of the city's western part continue to suffer from adverse effects of pollution caused by tanneries in Hazaribagh, Dhanmondi, Basila, Kamrangirchar and surrounding areas. The dreadful stink of the tanneries can be smelt from miles away in residential areas like Rayerbazar and Zigatola. 

Hazaribagh tanneries, an export-oriented cluster of industries, produce some 20,000 cubic metres of toxic waste laden with chromium and at least 30 other toxins every day. The toxic waters flow into the Buriganga through the Rayerbazar sluice gate. Locals allege they frequently require treatment for skin diseases, fever, cough, gastroenteritis, asthma and diabetes. 

A tanner said the major obstacle to the relocation is that most of the land and property is mortgaged against bank loans. Until the banks release the mortgaged property, it is impossible to move their factories (P. Roy, May 28, 2011).Poisoning Poultry, Fish Tannery Waste In Feed Allowed For A DecadeWomen work to sun-dry solid waste, generated from boiling of tanned leather off-cuts and shaving dust, at Hazaribagh in the capital. The dry waste is ground and supplied to poultry feed mills or farmersIt's difficult to say exactly when it began. Records suggest the practice of making poultry-fish feed out of Hazaribagh tannery waste has been going on for over a decade. On December 30, 2003, The Daily Star reported that the feed, produced by crooked traders in the capital's Hazaribagh, contained chromium, a chemical used in tanning hides. The toxic feed consumed by fish or poultry enters the food chain and can damage liver and kidney, and cause cancer and

other diseases, the report said. 

The then state minister for fisheries and livestock, Ukil Abdus Sattar, told this newspaper he was unaware of such activities but he would look into it. Other officials concerned also admitted their ignorance and said they would take action. 

Later, more media reports exposed the extent of feed contamination. The High Court on August 8, 2011, directed the government to stop the use of tannery waste in poultry feed as well as fish meals within 30 days.Yet the business kept flourishing. About a hundred factories in Hazaribagh now produce feed daily out of some 75 to 200 tonnes of solid waste that includes salt, bone, leather shavings and trimmings. Though the Rapid Action Battalion or the Department of Environment conducted one or two drives, things have hardly changed. 

The Department of Livestock Services and the Department of Fisheries are entrusted with maintaining quality of animal feed. But they did not take effective steps. “I was not aware of the use of tannery waste in fish feed until recently,” fisheries department Director General Syed Arif Azad said, following a report in The Daily Star mid-July this year. He, however, said that in the last six months, the department tested over 1,200 fish feed samples from across the country and found shortage of protein in some samples. 

The department warned the manufacturers but lodged no criminal cases. All it did was getting the manufacturers to apologise and pledge quality in future. 

“Cases take so long … there are also certain procedures, you know,” Arif told this newspaper. The department also did not test heavy metals in the feed. However, Arif said they would do this now as the reports of animal feed being mixed with tannery-based protein are coming out.  

The livestock department, however, filed one case and that is against Amir Multi-protein Ltd in Hazaribagh in March after a Rab-led drive found the factory was operating illegally. “There is no registered feed mill in Hazaribagh. However, if we have information about anyone manufacturing contaminated poultry feed, we can take action,” said Director General Mozammel Hoque Siddiquee of the livestock department. 

Following The Daily Star report on July 15, the Rab led a drive and livestock department officials sealed off four illegal feed factories in Hazaribagh. 

After the raid, the livestock department filed a criminal case against three illegal poultry feed factories.

Moshiur Rahman, president of Feed Industries Association of Bangladesh (FIAB), said they had notified the government of the alarming practices in 2007 and several times later.  

“There were one or two drives but it took only some days for the illegal factories to restart. Who knows whether they bribe police?” According to Moshiur, the FIAB members produce around 80 percent of the 30 lakh tonnes of feed a year. The image of the industry is being tarnished for the unscrupulous traders in Hazaribagh. 

On February 10, 2011, the then Department of Environment director Munir Chowdhury seized toxic feed in a raid and sued the owners. The accused were arrested but they came out easily after filing an appeal. “We had to face threats from some quarters. They seemed very powerful,” Munir said when contacted recently. 

Some workers engaged in boiling and sun-drying the tannery waste said police take Tk 100-200 for each burner used for boiling the solid waste. "Whenever a burner is on, one has to bribe the cops," said a tannery worker in Hazaribagh during a recent visit by a reporter from this newspaper. 

"There is an association [of feed manufacturers] that pays police on monthly basis. Police become strict whenever there is a mobile court drive but they loosen the grip later," he said. Police, as usual, deny the allegation.

“We have destroyed toxic feed from some factories. We would not have done it if we had taken bribe from the factories,” said Moinul Islam, officer-in-charge of Hazaribagh Police Station, referring to a July raid in Hazaribagh. Al Amin, executive magistrate of the Rab, who led a mobile-court drive lately, said, “We can conduct raids. But monitoring these factories is basically the responsibility of livestock and fisheries departments. Without a robust role from them, shady activities at these factories cannot be uprooted.” Published:Daily Star, September 17, 2014Last Modified: September 17, 2014

Moving The Toxic Tanneries – Another Wait StartsPosted on March 6, 2014 by Research Initiative for Social Equity Society - RISE Society — 2 CommentsThe pollution level in tanneries at Hazaribagh is rising every day, causing many diseases to spread around the area. Experts say that if the tanneries are not relocated soon there will be a medical catastrophe in the region. While deadlines for executing the High Court orders on relocation of tanneries have already passed several times with the government repeatedly asking for extension, new questions are rising on a realistic solution for this problem.

Workers live among toxic tannery waste in Hazaribagh Tannery AreaIn 2003 the government initiated a project for relocation to “Savar Leather Estate” in Savar. During this time two of the country’s  main tannery associations agreed with the government that some 150 member-tanneries in Hazaribagh would relocate to a site outside of the city. The government agreed to compensate these tanneries for some of the cost and planned to prepare a relocation site in Savar by 2005, although completion of the site has been delayed numerous times.The initial deadline for relocation of the more than 40 year old tanneries from Hazaribagh to Savar Leather Industrial Estate (SLIE) was June 2004, which was extended to December 2005. After a public interest litigation was lodged, the High Court in June 2009 asked the government to relocate the tanneries from Dhaka to a proposed leather estate at Savar by February 28, 2010 or face shutdowns. The government has repeatedly sought more time due to

multifarious reasons which included among others establishment of Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP), 2.50 billion BDT compensation for tanners and fund constraints. Last year the government announced a plan to relocate the tanneries by December 2014, upon the failure to meet this deadline, now the Industry Ministry now that the relocation would be implemented by June 2016 as the project has recently been revised by the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC)  at a cost of 10.78 billion BDT.Hazaribagh’s 220 tanneries discharge some 21,600 cubic meters of liquid waste and 88 tonnes of solid waste per day, posing a serious threat to the livelihood of some 100,000 people and prompting observers to deem it to be on the brink of an environmental disaster (Department of Environment, Bangladesh).International rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) repeatedly urged leather buyers not to purchase leather goods from tanneries at Hazaribagh in Bangladesh, as they do not abide by health and environmental laws. On 11 March 2012, the Environment Ministry signed a contract with a Chinese joint venture called JLEPCL and DCL to construct an effluent treatment plant within 15 months, but those 15 months have come and gone and no effluent treatment plant is yet installed. Regarding the delay of setting up the CETP at the leather zone, Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) Chairman Shyam Sunder Sikder said they would approve the design by next two days which was a major concern of the contractor company JLEPCL-DCL Recently the Industry Ministry asked JLEPCL-DCL to resume construction of the central effluent treatment plant in a week, or otherwise warned the company with “punitive action” if it delays work.According to BSCIC officials, the cost of setting up CETP was only 0.84 billion BDT in 2004 which is now increased to more than 6 billion BDT. BSCIC chairman Shyam Sunder Sikder told The Independent that they had already completed the major infrastructural work and allocated 205 industrial plots to 155 tanneries in the 200-acre leather park at Savar.Not only that, all necessary infrastructures — such as roads, water treatment plants, gas and sewerage line, electricity substation plant — except the central effluent treatment plant (CETP) — have almost all been set up at the leather park.The tannery owners however are yet to lay down the foundation for their factories, blaming the holdup on the failure to reach a consensus with the government regarding compensation and bank loans. The tannery owners demanded a compensation of 10.9 billion BDT, a readymade CETP and soft loans. In October 2013, an MoU was signed between BSCIC, Bangladesh Tanners’ Association (BTA) and Bangladesh Finished Leather, Leather-goods and Footwear Exporters Association (BFLLFEA) in this regard. As per the agreement, the government will offer a compensation package worth 2.5 billion BDT to 155 factories and assign 6.39 billion BDT for the installation of the CETP – a must for red-category factories discharging toxic chemicals.Establishment of infrastructures at the 200-acre tannery estate on the bank of river Dhaleshwari at Harindhara village of Tetuljhora in Savar is nearly complete (the Savar Leather Industrial

Estate). The plots have been prepared while the construction of roads, BSCIC Bhaban, police outpost, CETP and a power plant are now underway.According to the Industry Ministry, the process of relocating the tanneries from Hazaribagh to Savar is ongoing, claiming the transfer process will be completed by 2016. Industries minister, Amir Hossain Amu told local news agencies that the relocation is assigned as “top priority” in order to protect the sector, and he urged the industrialists to immediately begin the process of relocation. However, industrialists believe the 2016 deadline set by the government is too ambitious, stating that the infrastructure required for the relocation is not yet in place.While relocating is a matter of urgency for securing 160,000 people’s health who live surrounding the Hazaribagh area, reviewing the working conditions and social condition of the workers should also be an area to look into when or if the transfer is eventually done successfully.On the issue of worker rights in the Hazaribagh tannery area, RISE spoke with trade unionist Mr. Abdul Malek – the General Secretary of “Tannery Workers Union (TWU)” who is also the Organizing Secretary of “Bangladesh Trade Union Centre (BTUC)”, Executive President of “Bangladesh Leather and Leather Goods Industry Workers Federation”, Member of National Council of “Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB)”.Regarding transparency between buyers and workers, Mr. Malek said that “Tannery owners keep their buyers a secret, plus our sector is just too fluid to understand who is the actual owner of the contract which is being executed in a Tannery, and who the actual buyer is, as sometimes the buyer we see is only an agent or even freelancing buyers with contacts abroad”.About Trade Unionization in the Tannery Industry, Mr. Malek explains: “We are a single union with members in Tanneries across the various factories of this Industry. We usually come into mutual understanding with the factory owner in case of an accident or compensation, and usually we are successful in such negotiations. We seldom visit the Labor Court. However, don’t see any possibility of the buyers taking their share of responsibility in times of a major crisis as we do not know who they are.” On social conditions at workplace, Mr. Malek further informs, “there are child workers, toxic working conditions, physical and verbal abuse, and a lot of pollution. There is no effluent treatment plant (ETP) or Chrome plant in Hazaribagh, there was one such Chrome filter plant in Dhaka Tannery but it is not working anymore. There is no ETP in Apex Tannery, or at least it does not work. Tanneries here are supposed to move to their new areas, however that is not happening yet.”RISE Societyhttp://risebd.com/2014/03/06/moving-the-toxic-tanneries-another-wait-starts/

Italy: Leather Buyers BewareHuman Rights Watch - Wed, 3 Apr 2013 03:40 GMTAuthor: Human Rights Watch

http://www.trust.org/item/?map=italy-leather-buyers-bewareAny views expressed in this article are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.(Barcelona) - Leather buyers at an international leather fair in Italy should only purchase leather goods from tanneries that comply with laws that protect the right to health and labor rights, Human Rights Watch said today as the fair opens in Bologna. Such compliance should include respecting both national and international environmental standards. Tanneries in the Hazaribagh area of the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka, do not meet these criteria, Human Rights Watch said.Over 1,000 exhibitors from more than 40 countries will show new leather products at the Lineapelle leather fair, from April 3 to April 5, 2013, in Bologna. Among the exhibitors are Bay Tanneries and Bengal Leather Complex Ltd., both of whose tanneries are in Hazaribagh. Despite requirements for wastewater treatment under both Bangladeshi labor and environmental law, there is no common effluent treatment plant for tanneries in Hazaribagh to treat industrial wastewater, nor do any of the tanneries there have their own treatment plants."Leather tanneries in the heart of Dhaka have been releasing toxic effluent into a densely populated neighborhood for decades," said Richard Pearshouse, senior health and human rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Foreign buyers at the Lineapelle fair shouldn't buy products from companies that don't abide by labor and environmental laws meant to protect people."In October 2012 Human Rights Watch released the 101-page report, "Toxic Tanneries: The Health Repercussions of Hazaribagh Leather," which documented health problems among local residents of Hazaribagh slums. The residents complained of illnesses such as fevers, skin diseases, respiratory problems, and diarrhea caused by the extreme tannery pollution of air, water, and soil. The report, based on nine weeks of in-country research, also documented an occupational health and safety crisis among tannery workers, both men and women, including skin diseases and respiratory illnesses caused by exposure to tanning chemicals, and limb amputations caused by accidents in dangerous tannery machinery.The report described how wastewater that pours off tannery floors and into Hazaribagh's open gutters flows into Dhaka's main river, and contains, among other substances, animal flesh, sulfuric acid, chromium, and lead. The government has estimated that about 21 thousand cubic meters of untreated tannery effluent is released each day in Hazaribagh. Pollutant levels in the wastewater frequently surpass Bangladesh's permitted limits for tannery effluent, in some cases by many thousands of times the permitted concentrations.Tanneries operating in Hazaribagh have been the focus of reports, studies, surveys, and even government findings dating to the 1990s that have documented a range of human rights abuses and problematic conditions in and around Hazaribagh tanneries. These include unregulated industrial pollution of air, water, and soil; illness among local residents; perilous working conditions; and labor by girls and boys - often in hazardous conditions and for menial pay.Current employees from both Bay Tanneries and Bengal Leather Complex Ltd. confirmed to Human Rights Watch that their tanneries do not have plants to treat tannery wastewater. After

many years of not enforcing any environmental regulations in Hazaribagh, the Department of Environment fined Bay Tanneries and one other Hazaribagh tannery - not Bengal Leather Complex Ltd. - in February for not having effluent treatment plants.Human Rights Watch wrote to both Bay Tanneries and Bengal Leather Complex Ltd in February to request further information on occupational health and environmental protection measures. In its reply Bay Tanneries stated that the tannery does not have an effluent treatment plant because the company is waiting for the government to build a common effluent treatment plant at the designated relocation site for Hazaribagh tanneries, in Savar, 20 kilometers to the west. Bengal Leather Complex Ltd has not replied.In 2003 the country's two main tannery associations agreed with the government that some 150 member-tanneries in Hazaribagh would relocate to a site outside of the city, and the Bangladeshi government agreed to compensate these tanneries for some of the costs. The government planned to prepare a relocation site in Savar by 2005, but completion of the site has been delayed numerous times. In June 2012 officials in the two associations of tannery owners told Human Rights Watch they were negotiating compensation from the government for relocation to Savar considerably in excess of the amount previously agreed upon."Regulations on industrial wastewater are designed to protect and uphold public health," Pearshouse said. "What's been ignored in the protracted negotiations over relocation is how the health of local residents in Hazaribagh suffers tremendously from the current situation."Human Rights Watch repeatedly contacted the organizers of the Lineapelle leather fair between January and March to inquire whether they had conducted any reviews to ensure that prospective exhibitors that operate in Bangladesh comply with international standards and Bangladeshi environmental and labor laws. Human Rights Watch encouraged the organizers to promote reform of the Hazaribagh tanneries and avoid being linked to abuses. Lineapelle has not responded."Hazaribagh is one of the most polluted urban environments in the world," Pearshouse said. "The Bangladesh government should see that regulating Hazaribagh leather and addressing the ongoing health crisis among Hazaribagh's residents and tannery workers is essential to protecting the economic benefits of this industry."It is a generally accepted principle that companies have a responsibility to identify any human rights risks from their activities, including through their supply chain, and to mitigate those risks. That principle was recognized by the international community in June 2011 when the United Nations Human Rights Council endorsed the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Human Rights Watch believes that leather purchasers have a responsibility to make sure that Bangladesh tanneries they buy from comply with national and international environmental norms since purchasing from noncompliant tanneries would invariably exacerbate the harm caused by the tanneries' operations."The international leather industry has a responsibility to identify and mitigate human rights risks," Pearshouse said. "Avoiding polluting tanneries in Bangladesh is an important first step."

Hazaribagh BackgroundHazaribagh is home to 90 to 95 percent of Bangladesh tanneries. Leather exports from Bangladesh for 2012-2013 are on track to grow by 11 percent, while exports of leather products such as shoes, belts, and bags are on track to grow by 85 percent. For the previous year, from June 2011 to July 2012, Bangladesh exported ${esc.dollar}81 million worth of leather and leather goods including footwear to Italy, ${esc.dollar}52 million to Germany, and ${esc.dollar}22 million to Spain. Over the past decade, leather exports from Bangladesh have grown by an average of ${esc.dollar}41 million each year.Since 2001 the government has ignored a ruling from the High Court Division of the Bangladesh Supreme Court ordering the government to ensure that the Hazaribagh tanneries install adequate waste treatment systems. The High Court ruled in 2009 that the government should ensure that the Hazaribagh tanneries relocate outside of Dhaka or close them down. The government and the tannery associations were granted a number of extensions, and then ignored the order when those extensions lapsed.Bangladeshi governments have contemplated relocating the Hazaribagh tanneries for almost two decades. The government's most recent deadline is for tanneries to move there by the end of 2013. But given the long history of bureaucratic delays, some people familiar with the leather industry believe that relocation is unlikely before 2015, while others suggested it might only happen in 2017. As of March, no tannery had begun building new facilities at the Savar site.

EditorialTannery relocation making headwayNeed for acceleration strongly feltWE note with a degree of optimism that the overall process of relocating 155 tanneries from Hazaribagh, where these were polluting the environment severely, to Savar, is moving ahead. At long last, the 11-year gridlock on the crucial agenda shows a sign of breaking. Some physical progress has been reported from the relocation site. Clearly, there is a palpable need to fast-track overall project implementation as the deadline of completion by June, 2015 is close at hand.The statistics speak loud and clear about the tasks ahead. Of the 155 factories listed for transfer to Savar, 141 are under construction, of which again only 33 are making any satisfactory progress. One central concern is being addressed in earnest—namely 50 percent of the work to set up the CTP has been completed. That more than 20 factories are complete non-starters is a dampener.Thanks to the hammering of the industries minister the undertaking has gathered some momentum. Things like allocation of plots at Savar and payment of compensation are falling in place. Close monitoring in tandem with fail-safe coordination needs to be ensured at all costs.What all concerned will have to bear in mind is that the European Union had given advance warning that unless environment-friendly production regime is followed, they would stop buying leather or leather goods from Bangladesh. Already, South Korea and a few other countries have

scaled down their imports of such items from us. We have to step up compliance if we are not to lose the market for some of our major exportables.Published: 12:00 am Saturday, December 20, 2014

Tannery relocation looks uncertain, costs to environment mountRefayet Ullah MirdhaThe relocation of tanneries to Savar from Hazaribagh has run into a dead-end due to friction between the industries ministry and Bangladesh Tannery Association (BTA), putting the environment and human lives in danger.“The tanners have already ruined Buriganga river, the heart of Dhaka. Now, they will do the same to other rivers like Dhaleswari and Shitalakkhya,” said Abdul Matin, general secretary of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon, a platform of green activists.For many years now, the level of oxygen in the waters of Buriganga has been zero, and the ecosystem of Hazaribagh and its adjacent areas is completely damaged, Matin said.“The relocation of tanneries has become a must. Otherwise, we will not be able to save Dhaka city,” he said, adding that setting up effluent treatment plant (ETP) at Hazaribagh is not viable.Industries Minister Dilip Barua said the relocation is being held-up by BTA’s delay in signing the agreement for bearing the costs of setting up a central ETP (CETP) at the Savar leather estate.But, according to a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in 2007 between the two parties, the CETP was supposed to be constructed by the government, with the tanners paying back in instalments spread across 15 years.“The entrepreneurs are now showing no interest in signing the loan agreement with the ministry for the construction of CETP.”Without the signed agreement, the ministry is unable to get the final approval from the Executive Committee of National Economic Council to get the project started, Barua said.“We have already awarded the tender for the CETP to the Chinese contractor JLEPCL-DCL JV, but without the green light from ECNEC, they cannot start work.”The delay is not only affecting the natural environment and human lives, but also threatening the country’s leather and leather goods industry, the minister said.The European Union, the leading destination of the country’s leather exports, has already threatened to stop buying products from Bangladesh beyond 2014 if the CETP is not established in the industrial zone by then.“So, we will lose nearly one billion dollar of leather, leather goods and footwear exports a year for this delay,” Barua said.But, Shamsul Huda, president of BTA, is claiming quite the opposite.As per a MoU signed in 2003, the government was supposed to bear the costs of CETP and pay Tk 250 crore as compensation to the tanners for relocation, Huda said.“The amount has compounded manifold by now. Still, it is our demand that the government pays

us the compensation, so that we can shift our factories to Savar without further delay.”He said the tanners demanded the amount for construction of new buildings and moving machinery from Hazaribagh.Nevertheless, the delay is only mounting the cost of the project. The project took off in 2003, to be completed in 2005 with an approximate cost of Tk 175.75 crore.Let alone being completed in 2005, the project was rescheduled thrice.The costs now stand at Tk 827.99 crore, and the leather park is said to be ready by 2014, as per Abu Taher, director of the project.“Six project directors were transferred since the commencement of the project and I am the seventh one,” said Taher, also a director of Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation.The project cost has been also been increasing because of incorporation of new components, he added.“The government is now planning to add sludge treatment plant, sludge power generation plant and solid waste management plant with the CETP.”The industries ministry has already allocated more than 205 plots on 200 acres of land to 156 entrepreneurs through Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation, a wing of the ministry.http://archive.thedailystar.net/beta2/news/tannery-relocation-looks-uncertain-costs-to-environment-mount/Published: Wednesday, April 3, 2013Need to collect more information:https://www.google.co.th/?gws_rd=cr,ssl&ei=HmjyVP6APcWTuASXoYDgCg#q=Richard+pearshous+and+Bangladesh+Tannery+industry+report

The extremely unhealthy life of the Bangladesh tannery workerIndustry is riddled with health hazards, child labor and unscrupulous bosses

Workers toss hides into a metal drum for treatment in a tannery in the Hazaribagh district of Dhaka.

ucanews.com reporters, Dhaka Bangladesh March 5, 2014

Mohammed Belal is slight of build and speaks in a soft, halting voice.Now 30, he has worked in leather tanneries since he was 10 years old. He’s also suffered from gastric problems and headaches for the last nine years.“Every month I am ill,” he said. “Any time I can get sick because this environment is so bad, but I don’t have any other employment options." Belal’s job is to soak and treat animal hides with over 100 chemicals. His basic pay is about US$103 per month and he can earn an additional $26 per month with overtime – but he spends as much as a quarter of his salary on medicine and healthcare.His employer provides no additional medical benefits, despite the fact that tannery workers frequently fall ill due to hazardous working conditions.“The owners of the tanneries, indeed, should provide either health care or [a] health care stipend,” said Philip Gain, director of the Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD). “Those who work at the tanneries take high health risks.”According to an SEHD survey, 58 percent of tannery workers suffer from gastritis or ulcers, 31 percent suffer from skin diseases, and 10.6 percent suffer from rheumatic fever – all of which are far higher percentages compared to Bangladesh’s general population.

“There's a slow-burning health crisis among tannery workers,” said Richard Pearshouse, a senior researcher in the health and human rights division at Human Rights Watch (HRW). “They work in entirely unregulated tanneries with little or no protective equipment.”Workers suffer from chronic skin diseases, respiratory illnesses and gastric problems caused by “direct exposure to a variety of tanning chemicals”, said Pearshouse. “Though they work directly with carcinogens, no one is monitoring for occupational cancers.”“Most of the workers have one of those diseases,” said Abdul Maleque, general secretary of the Tannery Workers Union. “Personally I had dysentery, skin disease and respiratory problems when I worked in the tanneries.”He added: “Because it is such a hazardous industry, many countries have stopped raw hide processing and depend on countries like us for it."Bangladesh exported $450 million in crushed and finished leather and $470 million in leather goods in the 2012-2013 fiscal year, according to Mohammed Shaheen Ahmed, chairman of the Bangladesh Tanners Association. The association’s export target for the 2013-14 fiscal year is $1.2 billion.The majority of Bangladesh’s leather exports within Asia are sent to South Korea, Hong Kong and China. In Europe, leather is primarily exported to Italy, Spain and Portugal where it is used to make products for brands including Michael Kors, Coach, Burberry, Louis Vuitton and Hugo Boss, said Ahmed.In the future, he said, the Bangladesh leather industry will be “booming”.But critics have questioned whether profits alone are enough to justify the myriad negative impacts of the industry.“There has never been any cost-benefit analysis,” said Syeda Rizwana Hasan, chief executive of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association. “The amount of revenue they claim to bring in for the country is nothing compared to the environmental loss, [the] health cost they are inflicting and the bank loans that they have taken." “It’s a money game basically” and no elected government “wants to upset the business community,” she said.As a result, the government only shows concern “on paper”, and does not take any legitimate action to improve worker conditions or reduce environmental harm, she said.The working conditions, health hazards and salary are “inhuman” and “unconscionable”, she said. "It’s a lack of knowledge for the laborers, full awareness on behalf of the tannery owners and full awareness by the buyers."Estimates of the number of laborers working in tanneries vary from 5,000 to 30,000, and an accurate figure is hard to come by given the informal nature of employment.“[Workers] know it is dangerous, it is poisonous, but they have no second option,” said Abul Kalam Azad, president of the Tannery Workers Union.  “They don’t care about their health because they need money.”

Many start working in tanneries when they are very young, so they are afraid to look for jobs in other industries because they lack education or other skills, Azad added.Leather “is a very important sector for Bangladesh” in terms of employment, the economy and export growth, said Shyam Sunder Sikder, chairman of the Bangladesh Small & Cottage Industries Corporation within the Ministry of Industries.“Of course something should have been done” about worker conditions and the human rights situation, said Sikder.“Buyers are especially concerned about compliance” with health, safety and environmental regulations, he added.Sikder said more would be done to regulate tanneries and worker safety after the industry is shifted from the Hazaribagh area of Dhaka to Savar, a move that thus far has been dogged by indefinite delays.

 A young tannery worker removes leather from a drying rack in Dhaka.Child workersThe tannery industry has also been plagued by accusations of child labor.But Ahmed is quick to discredit these accusations, including a 2012 HRW report that documented evidence of child workers employed by tanneries.“Underage people cannot work in tanneries,” said Ahmed, who was adamant that there are “no” children currently working in the industry.However, in the span of a few hours ucanews.com spoke with and photographed numerous underage workers, some as young as age 10, in the Hazaribagh tannery district.Tanzim (whose name has been changed to protect his identity), 13, said he has been working in tanneries for three years.

Tanzim works 10-hour days and earns $39 per month in basic wages but can take home as much as $52 per month including overtime pay.“My elder brother brought me here,” he said.  “I was given safety equipment like gloves and a mask, but I usually don’t use them.”One of Tanzim’s jobs is to crawl through a tiny door into an enclosed metal drum to retrieve hides after they have been treated. He estimated that he is inside the drum for about an hour each time.“I use the mask when I go to work in the big drum where the hides are treated because there are so many chemicals inside and I might faint,” he said, adding that there are eight other child laborers working in the same tannery.“For some tannery managers, the children represent a cheaper source of labor,” said Pearshouse.Bangladesh ratified the International Labour Organizations’ Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor in 2001.“Despite the prohibition on children working in hazardous work, some children work in direct contact with chemicals, handling hides in pits full of chemicals and water,” said Pearshouse.There are also “quite a few children working in facilities that use by-products [including] trimmed leather,” said Gain. “Child labor should be brought to zero in the tannery industry.”Despite his positive outlook, Ahmed admits that Bangladesh’s leather industry “still needs a lot of work” to achieve across-the-board compliance. “Whenever we place demands to the owners on behalf of the workers, we always emphasize health and occupational safety issues. But it is the owners who should implement them. Sometimes, they take [the demands] seriously and sometimes they ignore them,” said Azad.“Owners in every industry put profit before workers’ rights and don’t want to pay heed to workers' cries.”

Toxic tanneries drive Bangladesh leather exports: reporthttp://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/09/us-bangladesh-tanneries-idUSBRE89816C20121009(Reuters) - Luxury leather goods sold across the world are produced in a slum area of Bangladesh's capital where workers, including children, are exposed to hazardous chemicals and often injured in horrific accidents, according to a study released on Tuesday.None of the tanneries packed cheek by jowl into Dhaka's Hazaribagh neighborhood treat their waste water, which contains animal flesh, sulphuric acid, chromium and lead, leaving it to spew into open gutters and eventually the city's main river."Hazaribagh's tanneries flood the environment with harmful chemicals," said Richard Pearshouse, author of the Human Rights Watch report. "While the government takes a hands-off approach, local residents fall sick and workers suffer daily from their exposure to harmful tannery chemicals."

Pearshouse told Reuters ahead of the release of the study that at least 90 percent of the leather and leather goods produced in Bangladesh come from Hazaribagh, a foul-smelling area where up to 15,000 people are employed in tanneries.It is a rapidly growing source of export income for the poor South Asian country, worth $663 million in financial 2011/12, with China, South Korea, Japan, Italy, Germany, Spain and the United States the main buyers."Foreign companies that import leather produced in Hazaribagh should ensure that their suppliers aren't violating health and safety laws or poisoning the environment," he said.Bangladesh's industry minister, Dilip Baura, told Reuters the government was aware of the pollution and health hazards in Hazaribagh, but they will be tackled under a plan to relocate the tanneries to an area outside Dhaka by mid-2013.Human Rights Watch said the move to a dedicated site outside the capital was originally planned for 2005, but the deadline was missed due to bureaucratic delays. Also, the government sought extensions to a 2009 High Court order to relocate the tanneries outside Dhaka and then ignored the order when the extension lapsed, it said."Hazaribagh is a glaring example of how indifferent governments can be towards citizens," said Syeda Rizwana Hasan, chief executive of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association."We raised the issue several times with the authorities, made protests against the deplorable conditions out there but no government took any positive steps to address them. Relocation of the tanneries is on the cards, but the government is delaying it, apparently to appease tannery owners and ensure them maximum benefits," she told Reuters.Pearshouse, who conducted 134 interviews during five months of research in Dhaka, said the air and soil were "incredibly contaminated" in Hazaribagh. He saw residents of the slum bathing in ponds that were black with pollution.He also found that children, some as young as 11, were employed by tanneries for around 1,000 taka ($12.30) a month. They were engaged in hazardous work, such as soaking hides in chemicals, cutting tanned hides with razor blades and operating dangerous machinery.Bangladesh exports both raw leather and finished leather products, mostly footwear, including high-end fashion shoes.(Writing by John Chalmers; Additional reporting by Anis Ahmed; Editing by Ron Popeski)

On Tuesday's America Tonight, Al Jazeera’s Rob Reynolds reported from Bangladesh on what happens when authorities make no attempt to enforce laws designed to protect the environment and people. Watch an excerpt from his report.It's no secret that Bangladesh is one of the world's poorest countries and that its laborers earn some of the lowest wages. Its garment factories’ dangerous working conditions have been well-documented. But there's another industry in the country that is even more threatening to workers’ health and the environment: tanneries that produce leather for clothes, shoes, handbags, jackets, belts and luggage sold around the world.Tanneries are an important industry for the destitute country, accounting for more than an estimated $600 million in exports each year. About 90 percent of it is produced in Hazaribagh, an area in the capital of Dhaka that just last month was rated   among the five worst toxic threats in the worldby the Blacksmith Institute.The chemicals used in the tanning process can cause cancers of the lungs, nose and bladder, according Dr. Khalilur Rahman, a radiologist at Dhaka University.And while the cheap Bangladeshi labor lowers the cost of leather goods sold in wealthy countries like the U.S., Japan, Spain, China, South Korea, Italy and Germany, there is a price paid in the human misery of Hazaribagh."This is a product that is used worldwide for luxury goods, but for these workers who are making them, neither the owners nor the government are looking after our health and safety," Abdul Malek, head of the Tannery Workers Union, said through a translator.A Human Rights Watch investigation last year found no attempt by authorities to crack down on polluting tanneries, calling Hazaribagh "an enforcement-free zone.""This is because the government wants only to buy the argument of earning foreign export,” said Syeda Rizwana Hasan of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association. “So I would say this is a case of total absence of governance."For years, the Bangladeshi government has promised to move the tanneries out of the densely populated slums of Hazaribagh into modern facilities. But so far all those promises have remained unfulfilled.Its latest plan calls for relocating the tanneries by the end of next year. Government officials did not respond to Al Jazeera's repeated requests for an interview.But the toxic threat of the tanneries isn’t just limited to the workers. About 22,000 cubic meters of environmentally hazardous liquid waste is emitted from them every day, flowing into the Buriganga River, Dhaka's main water way.Scientists say the Buriganga is a dead zone, and there have been no in-depth health studies done on the people living in Hazaribagh who use it as a water source."If you come to the Hazaribagh tanneries and have a look at the tannery area, that should tell you perhaps how hell looks like," Hasan said.

When will it end? Reviewing the Dhaka tannery impasse2 September 2013http://www.leathermag.com/features/featurewhen-will-it-end-reviewing-the-dhakar-tannery-impasse/Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on email Share on print More Sharing Services 9

On August 13 a revised proposal for the relocation of Dhaka’s tanneries – responsible for mass pollution and severe health problems amongst workers and the local populace – was placed before the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council. It is the latest development in a ten-year standoff between tanneries and Bangladeshi authorities. Jack Wittels traces the history of the conflict and reviews the government’s new policy proposal

This time last year former LEATHER International editor, Martin Ricker, called for the Bangladeshi government to take action over the appalling pollution caused by tanneries in the Hazaribagh district of Dhaka, the nation's capital."What is going on in the Hazaribagh district of Bangladesh is shameful," he said. "It is time that the authorities in Dhaka stood up to the tanners and told them to move or close."Ricker was rightly outraged at the scale of pollution produced by the 150+ tanneries operating in the district at that time. The following month, a report was published by Human Rights Watch describing how effluent containing a number of harmful chemicals ran directly from the tannery floors into open gutters, where it flowed through some of the district's slums before emptying into the city's main river, the Buriganga. Air pollution and solid wastes were also being produced en masse.The ongoing failure of government officials and tanning industry representatives to reach an agreement on how much the industry would be compensated for relocation was another source of great frustration. The planned move to a site in Savar, some 20km west of Hazaribagh and safely outside the capital, had been announced by then Prime Minister Khaleda Zia as far back as July 2002. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) agreeing to the move had also been signed in 2003 by both the government and tanning associations, yet no progress had been made.Twelve months on and Hazaribagh's tanneries are still as bad as ever, operating with the same flagrant disregard for human health, safety and environmental responsibility. Human Rights Watch estimates that 75 metric tonnes of solid waste, primarily consisting of salts and bones along with leather shavings and trimmings, are daily produced by the tanneries. This is in addition to 21,600 cubic metres of "environmentally hazardous" liquid waste containing harmful chemicals including ammonium, sulphur and chromium. A 2007 study by the Blacksmith Institute also included the district in a list of 30 of the world's most polluted places.The impact of these inexcusable conditions stretches far beyond the tanneries' immediate workforce. Studies from as far back as 1997 indicate that skin and kidney diseases, as well as

jaundice, diarrhoea and fever, are more common amongst Hazaribagh inhabitants than other areas of Dhaka with similar socioeconomic characteristics. Children as young as eleven have become ill through exposure to hazardous chemicals. Minors have also been injured whilst working in the tanneries, performing hazardous tasks such as cutting tanned hides with razorblades, soaking hides in chemicals and operating dangerous machinery.On August 13 of this year, a second revised proposal for the tanneries relocation was placed before the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) - the same body that endorsed the original proposal in 2003, and the first 2007 revision. The latest document offers a new relocation deadline of June 2016 at a total cost of TK1078.71 crore (approx £89 million). The government has agreed to pay 80%, with the factory owners paying the remaining 20% in instalments over 15 years.This figure is more than six times the original total cost of TK175.75 crore that was estimated for the move back in 2003. The price hike is largely due to the Bangladeshi government agreeing to compensate tanners TK250 crore for the relocation process, as well as paying a further TK477.46 crore for Chinese joint venture JLEPCL-DCL to provide a Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) in Savar.Yet even with such generous state funding, there is still a strong possibility the relocation will suffer further delays. The tanners are refusing to make the move until the ECNEC adjust certain conditions of the MoU, which the tanners have yet to sign. The tanners' chief points of concern are an increase in relocation fees for factory owners, and a government failure to demarcate land for workers' dormitories in Savar."As per the proposal, we [the owners] have to pay Tk376.15 per square feet now for the allotted plots ranging from 10,000 to 32,0000 sq ft in Savar. Earlier, the fee was fixed at Tk197 per sq ft", said Belal Hossain, chairman of Bangladesh Finished Leather, Leather Goods and Footwear Exporters' Association has observed."This is not acceptable as the higher charges will increase our relocation costs significantly", he added.While the tanners' objections may sound pedantic in the context of widespread human suffering perpetrated by their factories, national authorities are seemingly powerless to force compliance. Ten years of negotiations have resulted in little more than missed deadlines and spiralling costs. More worrying still, there is a suggestion that such inefficiency is not entirely the result of merely incompetent politicians. In 2012, a senior member of Dhaka's Department of Environment admitted that: "We are not doing anything for Hazaribagh. The tannery owners are very rich and politically powerful."These words perhaps hint at the real reason behind the government's failure to relocate the tanning industry.Despite these grim sentiments, however, there is still hope for the residents of Hazaribagh. The European Union, the leading purchaser of Bangladeshi leather exports, has threatened to boycott the country's products as of 2014 if the CETP is not completed - a strong incentive for a nation

so dependent on the industry. Other optimists have pointed to China; its tanning sector was once known for its lack of environmental controls, but the country is cleaning up its act and many of its factories are now world leaders in worker safety and environmental control.The Bangladeshi planning ministry's latest proposal was reportedly inspired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's heavy criticism of the long delays in implementing the scheme. Let us hope that this PM and her government has the tenacity and ability to succeed where previous politicians have failed the people of Hazaribagh.