Pecuniary punishment against defaulting tanners
At last the High Court has ordered errant tannery owners to pay a hefty fine per day for every day of delay in shifting their tanneries to Savar. The entire matter has assumed a farcical character. Given that it is more than 13 years that the idea was first mooted, to this point in time in 2016 when some 154 tannery owners are still seeking time for completing the shifting of their tanneries, the most stringent measures is needed to move the deliberate sluggards to act on the court's orders.
The final deadline of 31 March 2016 has also expired. And we wonder why the relevant ministries have been unable or unwilling to take punitive measures against the tanners. In fact all the threats of action against the defaulting tanners so far by the ministry have turned out to be only sound and fury signifying nothing.
Shifting the tanneries from their present location had become indispensable considering the most deleterious effect of these factories on the Buriganga. The tanners had missed more than a dozen extensions including the one granted them by the court. But that deadline of 2013 was also disregarded. The ministry had, on its own part, failed to provide all the necessary facilities, particularly the effluent pant, in due time.
We hope that the shifting will be completed very soon, albeit six years behind the time originally fixed by the High Court. To hear the tanners say that it would take another six months to complete the relocation since more work need to be done, that too after good three year's grace given by the High Court, is absolutely unacceptable.
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