DHAKA: The Bangladesh Tanners’ Association has said that leather industry of country has suffered Tk 4.5 billion due to ongoing countrywide blockade enforced by the BNP-led alliance.
The organization urged political parties to solve the present crisis through dialogues.
Reading out a written speech, association President Shaheen Ahmed said: “The country’s transport system has collapsed due to the ongoing political unrest and violence. It has created a serious crisis in the transport of leather and leather goods.”
“Transport of finished leather and leather goods to the Chittagong port has become almost impossible. Transport costs have tripled. But there is no surety of the goods reaching the port despite that. We’re facing huge losses,” Ahmed said.
The businessmen demanded 10 percent cash incentive on exports to compensate for the losses.
They also demanded the constitution of a Tk 50 billion fund to extend low-interest loans to the sector.
Ahmed said the Tk 1.5 billion pledged by the government for the shifting of tanneries from Dhaka’s Hazaribagh to Savar was ‘insufficient’.
