ARE KANPUR tanneries paying for UP Jal Nigam’s failure? At least the State Pollution Control Board believes so, after it did a reality check on Tuesday.
The Board now feels that domestic sewage is responsible more for Ganga pollution than tannery affluent. To back its claim, the board has rolled out figures collected in a survey and the physical verification of facilities run by the UP Jal Nigam to check discharge of waste.
A total of 500 mld of domestic sewage is being emptied into the river each day.
Meanwhile, the tanneries contribute just 8.2 mld discharge of affluent. “It’s just two per cent of the total pollution in the river. More myths have surrounded the entire issue than facts. We are preparing a detailed report on various aspects that leads to river pollution. The report will be submitted in court,” said Board regional officer Kuldeep Mishra.
The reason behind the massive domestic waste finding its way into the river, are defunct treatment plants set up under the Ganga Action Plan (GAP) with an investments of crores. The plants have been set on a sharing basis and the tannery owners regularly pay maintenance charges. But as fate would have it, none of the plants in Chabileypurwa, Sheetla Bazar, Buriya Ghat and Wazirabad ever worked to full capacity.
And over the last couple of years, the facilities finally stopped working for want of adequate maintenance. All these points were highlighted by tannery owners in their talks with the district administration, ahead of the process to seal defaulting tanneries was put into motion. On Tuesday, when officials were busy sealing these units, a team of officials from the Pollution Board, KMC, district administration, Jal Nigam took a reality check.
{{/usCountry}}And over the last couple of years, the facilities finally stopped working for want of adequate maintenance. All these points were highlighted by tannery owners in their talks with the district administration, ahead of the process to seal defaulting tanneries was put into motion. On Tuesday, when officials were busy sealing these units, a team of officials from the Pollution Board, KMC, district administration, Jal Nigam took a reality check.
{{/usCountry}}“It was surprising for all of us,” said a team member. Unwilling to miss this opportunity, the team members got the domestic wedge opening directly into the river from the treatment plant, videographed. Sources said even samples collected downstream to assess the chrome content in the river, has given a negative report.