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Download PDF Most industries in the capital are yet to install Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) for safeguarding the city’s surrounding rivers from further pollution although the deadline for mandatory installation of ETP in all industries ended six months ago, environmentalists said yesterday.
Out of 7,000 industries, only 102 have installed ETP while the rest are still discharging waste water into the rivers, they revealed at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity.
“The decision to install ETP in all industries by October 31, 2007 was made at a meeting between two advisers and associations of industry owners on March 22, 2007. But only 102 industries said they have set up ETP,” said Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon President (BAPA) Prof Muzaffer Ahmad.
He also said 35 out of 200 industries under Bangladesh Jewellery Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BJMEA), 47 out of 131 industries under Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) and 20 out of 200 industries under Washing Industries Association (WIA) have installed the EPT. But the government is not monitoring whether the EPT set up in the industries are working properly or not.
He urged the government to recover the encroached areas on river banks to restore the original size of the rivers.
Muzaffer, also the chairman of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) also made suggestions for recovering the encroached areas along the river on the basis of Cadastral Survey (CS) record.
Bapa General Secretary Dr M Abdul Matin said industrial units are discharging more than 1.3 million cubic metres of waste water into the rivers every day, compared to the daily discharge of .5 million cubic metre of household waste water.
He also said textile, metal, chemical, rubber, pharmaceutical, cement, leather, pulp, paperboard, fertiliser, and food processing industries and petroleum refineries are mainly responsible for polluting the rivers surrounding the capital.
Mihir Biswas, coordinator of Buriganga Bachao Andolon and joint secretary of Bapa, said the government must decide what it wants to do about the industries responsible for polluting the rivers.
He also said 60 percent pollution in the rivers surrounding the capital is done by industries while 30 percent by Wasa and DCC and only 10 percent by city residents.
“What we need is to establish a powerful body that can implement decisions to save the rivers,” said Bapa Joint Secretary Sharif Jamil.
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