Establishment of industrial zone for tanneries in jeopardy

Sialkot: The establishment of Sialkot industrial zone for tanneries is in doldrum despite the Punjab government has already released funds amounting Rs 90 million for the purchase of land for the proposed tanneries zone.

Despite the directives of Punjab Chief minister nothing has been done practically in this regard as a result the project was being delayed further.

But unfortunately the matter of land acquisition is still pending due to unknown reason as a result of which the cost of land had increased a lot and now it would not be possible to purchase the land with available funds.

The core requirement for Sialkot Tanneries Zone is water treatment plant for which the business community needs financial assistance of Rs 45 million.

The prime concept of setting up tanneries zone was to shift all existing ill-planned tanneries functioning in and close to Sialkot in the proposed zone and to ensure pollution free environment to the dwellers living near tanneries clusters.

Sources disclosed that over 90 million-meter leather is being annually manufactured and annually consumption of chemical is 65,000 tones used for leather processing tanneries in the country.

The tanneries industry are using 40,000 tons of toxic chemicals of which 9600 tones chemicals are used and consumed in Sialkot tanneries. At present in Sialkot, as many as 248 tanneries of different sizes are functioning in and close to Sialkot of which nine large, 79 medium and 160 small tanneries are functioning in the area.

The Punjab government has taken steps to cope with the pollution threats caused by the ill-planned establishment of tanneries in and close to Sialkot, which are posing serious threats to human life and gradually degrading the environmental conditions.

These measures have been adopted to enabling the business community to fulfil the demands and requirements of World Trade Organisation (WTO) regime and other global challenges more easily.

The regular functioning of industrial zone for tanneries would not help in reducing pollution load in tanneries cluster area but also improve the degraded environmental condition caused by the tanneries. Meanwhile, the business community engaged with leather industry has urged upon the concerned authorities to take immediate steps for expediting the proposed project of Sialkot tanneries zone in the area.