Many workers claim the government has not spared a thought for them and attempted to relocate the tanneries to Savar by providing only the industry owners with facilities.

On Friday, the weekly holiday, the chit-chat at the tea stalls in the choked, congested neighbourhood in Dhaka revolved around the issue – in what direction things will go as the ban on raw hides in the area comes into effect.

Some people, who are involved with the decades-old industry, said they would rather change their profession than leave Hazaribagh.

The tannery industry moved from Narayanganj to Hazaribagh in the 50s.

There was no public outcry over the pollution they flooded the environment with initially.

Only in 1986 did the government identify the tanneries in Hazaribagh as the most polluting industry.

The High Court ordered authorities to stop pollution made by the industry in 2001 and the government in 2003 decided to shift the tannery industry to Savar.

The incumbent government gave the Hazaribagh tanners until June last year to relocate, but they paid no heed to that and subsequent other deadlines.

Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu in February set the Mar 31 cut-off time for them to move to the Savar Tannery Park.

He said raw hides would not be allowed to enter the area from Apr 1.

After failing to make the tanneries move out of Dhaka within the time frame, the government has now deployed police to stop the supply of raw hides to the factories.

Requesting anonymity, a worker of Mizan and Sumon Tannery says, “The government and the owners only think about themselves while we lose our work.”

“I have been working in this industry for 15-20 years. What am I supposed to do now?”

Md Rana, who works at a tannery that will shift to Savar, has other concerns.

“This is a backbreaking work. I feel hungry almost every two hours during work. I don’t know the arrangements there. I cannot even take my family as there will be no accommodation in Savar.”

Rana says there is no eatery near the new location and he simply cannot afford to spend Tk 20 as rickshaw fare just to get some food.

“Moreover, there is no hospital or doctor near the new place,” he claims.

So, he says he is staying put.

Md Babul Hossain, a raw hide trader, brings up several issues that small traders like him might now face.

“We will be the first victims of this decision. The factories give us half of the payment after one tranche of the supply. After the second one, they give the other half and some additional money.

“Now if the traders fail to bring in the remaining supplies, the tanners will not pay them and the traders will finally fail to pay the suppliers,” Babul points out.

Moqbul Hossain, who brings raw hides from Comilla, is upset with the government that ‘is making the situation all the more confusing’.

“The industry is not making profits now.”

“I have raw hides worth Tk 20 million stuck here at Hazaribagh. I could not sell those, hence I processed those in some factories,” he says.

Worse, he cannot go back to Comilla now as “I owe almost Tk 10 million to some parties there”.

“I have 500-700 raw hides back at Comilla. I will not be able to keep them for long.

“Where will the raw hides from the other places of the country will go now? They will be smuggled out,” he added.

Emdadul Bhuiyan, a quality control officer at a factory, thinks the ban will begin to bite slowly.

“It might hit some factories after two weeks, or one month or so. The factory owners will be the last ones to be affected.”

Because, he reasoned, the factories have enough blue leather (half-processed hides) in store. They will just continue working with those. The owners will start feeling the pinch once out of stocks.

“The cart pullers and coolies who used to carry raw hides are already out of work. After all the stocks are exhausted, the factory workers will be fired too,” Bhuiyan reckons.

According to him, the government has failed to grasp the complexities of transferring these factories.

“We will need to scatter and reassemble these machines for relocation. We are not trained to do that. We may even need the help of foreign experts to do that.

“Just slapping a ban on raw hide supplies has not been a smart decision with these issues not taken care of,” he said.

Cart puller Md Sabuj Miah is all too worried about daily subsistence, for now, “I earn Tk 200-250 every Friday. I could not earn even Tk 50 as there was no supply today.”

A factory in-charge told bdnews24.com on condition of anonymity, “The government is giving one ultimatum after another but it is not going to solve the problem.”

“Foreign buyers have lost interest here. They will be doing business with us only if we can give them the supplies they need. But that’s in jeopardy now.

“We would relocate right now, but if we cannot start production there (at Savar), then what is the point of doing all these?” he asked.