All operations of Jashore tannery must stop: HC

The High Court yesterday directed the government to stop all operations of SAF Tannery, which is reportedly polluting the environment in Jashore, until it receives a clearance certificate from the Department of Environment (DoE).

The court also asked officials concerned of the government to regularly monitor whether the tannery pollutes Bhairab river by dumping waste in it.

SAF Tannery is situated at Taltola of Nawapara in Jashore's Abhaynagar upazila.

The officials are chairperson of National River Conservation Commission; director general of DoE and its directors and deputy directors of Dhaka, Khulna and Jashore, and deputy commissioner of Jashore.

The HC bench of Justice Zafar Ahmed and Justice Md Akhtaruzzaman delivered the verdict after holding a hearing on a writ petition filed by Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association in 2018, questioning the tannery's activities.

Petitioner's lawyer Minhazul Haque Chowdhury told The Daily Star that SAF Tannery has been running without clearance and a proper waste management system since 1980. It is directly dumping waste into Bhairab.

The tannery authorities have been warned and fined multiple times, but they are continuing to run the establishment, he said.

SAF Tanery owner's lawyer Md Abdul Gaffar told this correspondent that the tannery is not polluting the environment.