Hazaribagh: 'A Thousand (polluted) Gardens'

Hazaribagh lies on the banks of the Buriganga (The Old Ganges). The river is a central artery to the heart of Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, providing the main source of water for a city infamous for being one of the most densely populated places on Earth. Hazaribagh literally means “ A thousand Gardens,” today aquatic life can barely survive in the surrounding waters due to the high levels of toxins in them. Home to Bangladesh's famous leather industry, the entire locality consists of numerous tanneries and factories that leak toxic chemicals from the leather tanning process into the Buriganga river, as well as employing thousands who work with carcinogenic compounds often without any form of adequate protection. According to a World Health Organisation report, it is estimated that 90% of the workers in Hazaribagh will die before reaching 50 and was labelled the 5th most polluted location in the world in a study of the World’s worst polluted places by the Blacksmith Institute and Green Cross Switzerland in 2013.

Hazaribagh has gained attention in recent years increasing pressure for the movement of the leather tanneries to a new location in Savar with modern treatment facilities. Whilst potentially moving to such an area would yield many benefits I decided to focus my project on the livelihoods of those currently working and living in the area, and felt that little attention was being given to how such a move would affect their lives having depended on the formal and informal economy provided by the tanneries presence for so long. The situation in Hazaribagh is endemic of the country itself. It is a story of corruption and negligence that poisons the veins of the country, its physical manifestation being embodied by the slow death of a river that is arguably the country’s central lifeline providing essential transport links and water to the entire city. Hazaribagh brings in a significant portion of the country’s export totals to buyers in the U.S, Japan, and Europe. Due to the wealth the leather industry accumulates, the owners are well connected politically which has delayed the movement of the tanneries. A move to Savar would be a costly undertaking for the leather companies, and a move for the landlords of tanneries would entail a reduction in profit from the tanneries being on their land.

A tannery worker prepares a hide for the "wet blue" process. This entails placing the hide in a large steel drum filled with chemicals including Chromium- a notoriously toxic chemical banned in many countries, to strip the hide of hairs and bleach t

A tannery worker takes a newly pressed hide out of a machine.

These large steels drums filled with toxic chemicals are used for the "wet blue" process. Workers often handle the hides and walk inside with sandals or bare feet exposing themselves to the toxins inside.

Accidents are commonplace inside the factories with little oversight regarding health and safety. Injuries include respiratory diseases, difficulties with eyesight from the chemicals in the air, as well as severed limbs.

Following the "wet blue" process where the hides are bleached, workers manually stir piles of hides in pits filled with bleaching agents to soften them and prepare for drying.

Villagers from the surrounding tanneries are often involved in the leather tanning process by working in factories or participating indirectly through menial jobs such as transporting leather from the factories to fields for drying as shown. It is c

Rohnee, aged 7, rumages through piles of leather and bags of animal parts to collect horns from the carcasses of animals used for hides. He sells these to shops which will make jewellery and furniture from them. Should the tanneries move,

Hassan Ali, aged 11, also collects leftovers from the carcasses of animals used for leather hides. He wants to work in the industry as his family has done for the past few generations and says the move to Savar will be difficult for him as he might

The bleaching process that the hides undergo taints the waste water a distinctive blue colour. The water containing toxic compounds runs through open sewers where it mixes with human waste, and animal fat left over from disposed carcasses. The major

Workers handle leather in pits filled with sulfuric acid and sodium sulfide that can burn tissue, eye membrane, skin, and the respiratory tract. Other chemicals such as formaldehyde are known potential human carcinogens, the health effects of which

The lower quality hides pictured here are left to dry and used for cheap items such as key rings. The smell from the drying hides and tannery process is so strong that it travels miles with the wind.

Workers inside a pit for the treatment of leather hides.

Local workers sprint back and forth from the factories transporting large volumes of leather by hand carts in the mid day heat.

Residents of Hazaribagh clutch their noses from the foul odour of rotting animal carcasses and waste water that flows through the area.

A closer look at the runoff water from the tanneries. Toxic water, plastic, animal and human waste, all flow together into the Buriganga. Residents of Hazaribagh fish in the river and ingest some of the chemicals released by the tanneries elevating

A man leads a goat and a sheep to slaughter for leather.

Animal carcasses are rounded up and tied together into bags which are then dumped. The rotting carcasses draw in vermin and disease to the inhabitants of the area.

A wild dog feeds off goat's hooves from a nearby bag full of them.

A man staples leather that will be used for handbags to wooden boards in order to dry.

Children play amongst one of many giant mounds of leather pieces littered around the area.

A man dumps chromium laden industrial strength bleach into one of the steel drums without any form of protection.

A man carries buckets of acid to dump into the bleaching pits.

Local children watch as dogs squabble over parts of animal carcasses left behind.

Al Amin, 20, works in a tannery dyeing leather goods. He says he is willing to move should the tanneries uproot but is unsure about the reality of finding a job when priority will likely be given to locals in the new area in Savar.

Children play among piles of discarded leather.

Life around Hazaribagh revolves around leather. Many work in the factories or in a job linked to the production of leather. The potential shift to a new location, despite numerous setbacks by the government, will likely have a negative short term im

In 2001 a High Court ruling in Bangladesh deemed Hazaribagh a threat to the environment and recognised the hazardous working conditions of the workers in the tanneries. The ruling stated that all tannery waste should at the very least be treated using an Effluent Treatment Plant [ETP] in order to rid the contaminants in the water before being released into the river. In addition, the High Court ruling back in 2001 stated that a move to the new factory site in Savar should begin immediately. However, tannery associations and the government overruled this by rejecting and extending the deadline multiple times to the point where the move to Savar is still being side-lined. The lawyer representing the tannery association’s claims for an extension is Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, the Prime Minister’s nephew and member of government who rejects accusations of his political standing interfering in the case. Department of Environment officials reported to a Human Rights Watch report that there is a policy not to implement environmental laws in Hazaribagh on the basis that the government is preparing the relocation site in Savar. Officials confirmed that, on the basis of this understanding, they do not regularly monitor water, air, or soil in Hazaribagh, nor do they incur fines or sanctions against tannery owners for untreated waste discharges from the tanneries.

The future of the residents and workers at Hazaribagh remains unclear. For workers, moving to the site in Savar is unrealistic as whole families are involved in some way with the tannery industry and having one person move for work would not be as profitable. Furthermore, the new site in Savar will likely draw in people from the surrounding area there, leaving many workers and families in Hazaribagh with an unknown future.