The recommendation came at a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change on Monday.

A letter will be sent to the ministries of environment and industries and the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) over the matter in the coming days, said Saber Hossain Chowdhury, chairman of the committee.

The panel suggested reopening the estate after the right steps are taken to manage the pollution and waste it generates.

The panel took the decision after visiting the leather industrial park and assess the overall situation there, according to Saber.

“The amount of waste it produces exceeds its waste management capacity. Fines have been levied at different times but that is not the solution. That is why we have asked for the industrial estate to be closed," he said.

The estate produces as much as 40,000 cubic metres of waste daily but has the capacity to dispose of 25,000 cubic metres.

The remaining 15,000 cubic metres of waste go out into the environment, with as much as 16.4 million cubic metres left untreated in the last three years.

“There is just a liquid waste management system in Savar. There is no system for the management of metal and chromium waste.”

A lot of waste is being dumped into the Dhaleshwari River, said Saber. "The tanneries were relocated from Hazaribagh to Savar to reduce pollution. But that hasn't been the case."

The committee has also recommended against renewing the annual environmental clearance required to operate the tannery.

In 2003, BSCIC set up a leather industrial park at Hemayetpur in Savar to take the industry up to the international standard.

Despite the reluctance of the tannery owners in Hazaribagh, a court order compelled them to move in April 2017.

Initially, the onus was on the tanneries to set up an effluent treatment plant (ETP) for industrial waste management. But as the tanneries did not do so, the ministry of industries decided to set up a common effluent treatment plant (CETP) and revised the project in 2010.

The ministry subsequently set a deadline for the relocation of the tanneries but when factory owners failed to comply, the High Court in 2017 ordered the gas, water and electricity lines at the factories in Hazaribagh to be disconnected.

Upon relocating, the 130 tanneries there began operations before work on various components of the CETP could be completed.

Consequently, the Dhaleshwari suffered the same fate as the Buriganga in Hazaribagh as the waste generated by the tanneries were dumped into the river.

On the recommendation of the parliamentary committee, BSCIC Chairman Mostaque Hassan said, "We will be able to address the matter once we get an official communication from the ministry."