Dhaka: Amid growing concerns over the pollution of four rivers surrounding the capital, the government on Tuesday decided to shut down riverside factories which have been running without Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs).

The decision came from an inter-ministerial meeting held at the Shipping Ministry with Minister Shajahan Khan in the chair.

‘Those who’ve already set up ETPs but not using currently are urged to start making the plants functional while those who don’t have are asked to install ones as early as possible to keep their factories open,’ Shajahan told reporters after the meeting.

The minister said the Ministry of Industries has asked tannery owners to relocate their factories within the given time to save the rivers from pollution. ‘Or else, the tanneries will be shut down,’ Khan added.

Shajahan also said a project will be taken very soon to save the four rivers—Buriganga, Balu, Turag and Shitalakhya—which will be implemented by BIWTA.

Public representatives, including local MPs, councilors and mayors, will be asked to conduct campaigns to raise public awareness over the importance of saving the four rivers from pollution.

LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, Housing and Public Works Minister Eng Mosharraf Hossain, Water Resources Minister Anisul Islam Mahmud, Environment and Forests Minister Anwar Hossain Manju, Land Minister Shamsur Rahman Sharif, DSCC and DNCC mayors Syed Khokan and Annisul Haq were, among others, present at the meeting.