Mismanagement and Security Failures Plague Faridpur BSCIC Industrial Estate

Anwar Zahid, Faridpur 

Faridpur BSCIC is one of the most promising industrial areas in the Faridpur region. Poor management and weak security have hurt it badly. Bloodsuckers dominate the area, and industrial entrepreneurs do not know where to turn.

The Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) has no guardian now. The area looks old and ruined, and it feels haunted. Bushes, waterlogging and filth cover it. People have little safe drinking water, and the roads are full of potholes.

The drainage system is in a very bad state, and local people and traders find life hard because of toxic waste from the acid factories. Nobody offers a remedy. Toxic smoke and chemical water from the acid factories also damage the local environment and the farmland. The area has no permanent way to drain water.

Entrepreneurs suffer because they do not get BSCIC facilities. Meanwhile, a group of dishonest people exploit them and chase unfair profit, and local industry and trade in Faridpur is slowly dying. Touts and cheats also trouble the traders. The main gate of BSCIC has no boundary wall on the road to the north.

This leaves traders worried about their safety. Faridpur BSCIC has none of the basic security structures that an industrial area needs. The traders raised money themselves and built the main gate and the guard room. The BSCIC authority still pays no attention to these problems.

The roads inside BSCIC are full of potholes, and the drainage system is very weak. Water gathers in the potholes after even a little rain. Nobody has cleaned the drains for a long time, and no one made a proper plan. As a result, the drains cannot carry away waste water at all.

Recently, people held a meeting to demand the removal of the acid factories. Mr. Mohon Miah, Ms. Asma Khatun and Mr. Torab Ali from the Kanaipur area spoke to journalists there. They said toxic waste from the acid factories puts public health at serious risk. They fear for their children’s health, and they have trouble breathing.

Local trader Mr. Arman Miah said the acid factories grew up without following BSCIC rules. The factories release toxic chemical water, toxic fumes and foul smelling chemicals. BSCIC workers and nearby residents now suffer from breathing problems and other serious diseases. No working effluent treatment plant (ETP) exists, so the chemical waste harms the whole ecosystem. He added that the District Commissioner’s office held a meeting on the matter.

Mr. Md. Mainul Hasan, the industrial estate officer, said the authorities formed a committee. It includes the acid factories, the Department of Environment, the upazila administration and the upazila health office. They will take further steps after the committee gives its report. He said the talks at the DC office were fruitful.

Two BSCIC traders spoke on condition of anonymity. They said the first need of any industrial area is enough clean water. But the lack of safe drinking water is a daily problem at Faridpur BSCIC. Mr. Md. Lokman Mondol, a BSCIC trader, said BSCIC has many kinds of problems. He feels the authority worries very little about them.

Traders and concerned citizens of the industrial area have made several demands. They want stronger security at BSCIC, and they want a strong boundary wall built around it very soon. They also want CCTV cameras and enough night guards. They want the roads and drains repaired quickly, and an effective drainage system to end the waterlogging.

The deep tube well at BSCIC stopped working in 2023. Nobody has fixed it in the four years since. The traders say senior authorities must step in strictly and carry out real reforms right now. This will bring the fading industrial sector of Faridpur back to life and protect the traders’ investments.

Mr. Suruj Kumar, president of the BSCIC traders, said some touts and cheats sometimes disturb them by phone and demand extortion money. He said the District Commissioner and the Superintendent of Police already know about this.

Mr. Md. Mainul Islam, an officer of the BSCIC industrial estate, said the authority will solve all problems, including the tube well, very soon.

Mr. Md. Kazi Harun, chief assistant of BSCIC, said the Faridpur industrial estate began in 1988 on 15 acres and 60 decimals of land. Some land became part of the main road, so BSCIC now pays land tax on 15 acres and 55 decimals. BSCIC has 42 factories now. Two of them closed long ago because of money trouble and a lack of government support.