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U.P. Govt. orders closure of tanneries in Kanpur, Unnao

Atiq Khan

Gesture to saints up in arms against poor water quality of Ganga at Sangam

PHOTO: PTI

HOLY DAYS: A pilgrim knotting the hair of his young kin at the ongoing Ardh Kumbh in Allahabad on Friday.

LUCKNOW: With the saints up in arms against the poor water quality of the Ganga at the Sangam in Prayagraaj (Allahabad) during the ongoing Ardh Kumbh, the Uttar Pradesh Government has ordered closure of tanneries in Kanpur and Unnao, besides initiating other measures for augmenting the flow of the river. There are around 410 tanneries in the area, with the largest concentration at Jajmau in Kanpur overlooking the Ganga.

This follows PWD and Energy Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav's statement in Allahabad yesterday after reviewing the water quality of the river that tanneries which had not installed common chrome recovery plant would be closed down till January 23. The next important bathing festival at the Ardh Kumbh is on January 14-15 (Makar Sankranti), followed by two other "shahi snaans" on January 19 and 23.

Mr. Yadav said on Friday that necessary orders have been issued and action against defaulters would start soon. Orders have also been issued to suspend the lifting of Ganga water for the Dalmau Canal upstream in Rae Bareli.

But the State Government's decision has sparked a row with the tannery owners accusing the Government of targeting the tanneries. They contend that the tanneries are not the source of water pollution. The source of pollution, according to them, are the Ordnance Equipment Factory in Kanpur, the dyeing industry in Uttarakhand and the Dhela river upstream near Kannauj which releases huge amount of filth and muck into the river. "The move would lead to labour unrest as approximately 50,000 labourers belonging to the weaker sections are employed in tanneries in Jajmau area. They would not only lose their livelihood, the tanneries would suffer huge financial losses," said Imran Siddiqui, Director of Super Tanners, Kanpur.

Stating that the tanneries were unnecessarily being targeted, Mr. Siddiqui told The Hindu from Kanpur that leather exports from UP were worth Rs. 4,000 crore annually with Kanpur, Unnao, Farrukhabad and Agra being the main centres of finished leather export. He explained that the big tanneries had installed effluent treatment plant about a decade back and the system operated in such a manner that untreated water cannot flow into the Ganga. The small and medium tanneries are required to install common chrome recovery plant at government cost.

In fact, the tanners claim that the water quality upstream at Bhairon Ghat, Ram Ghat , Power House and Green Park was the same as that downstream of Jajmau. To further their argument that the tanneries were being "defamed", the owners say that according to the chromium metal testing report prepared by UP Pollution Control Board and Indusrial Toxicology Research Centre, Lucknow (Sample Registry No.TS-735 (1 &II) the metal chromium in the water samples collected on November 2, 2006, was 0.001 milligram per litre.

Significantly, as per the estimates of Kanpur Municipal Corporation the total domestic waste generation in Kanpur was around 500 million litres per day of which only 162 MLD was treated. " The remaining 350 MLD untreated waste goes into the Ganga," added Mr Siddiqui.

Meanwhile, in a belated action around 300 cusecs were released into the river from Narora in Bulandshahr district with an additional 300 cusecs released from Sharda Sahayak irrigation system. The flow of water into the Ganga has been augmented to 1,800 cusecs.

Dirt-laden water had sparked off a series of protest on January 3 (Paush Purnima), the first bathing festival of the Ardh Kumbh. This resulted in only 20 lakh devotees taking a dip at the Sangam which belied the State Government's claim of 80 lakh devotees taking the holy dip on Paush Purnima.

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