E-Paper
Legal tanneries to reopen; UP govt to set up treatment plant
Over 200 tanneries situated on the banks of Ganga were shut by the UP government in November 2018 to check water pollution ahead of the Kumbh 2019 in Prayagraj.
The state government has decided to allow all legal tanneries to carry out operations in the city and would set up a separate 20 MLD treatment plant at Jajmau in Kanpur to ensure that the tannery waste is not released directly into the Ganga.
Over 200 tanneries situated on the banks of Ganga were shut by the UP government in November 2018 to check water pollution ahead of the Kumbh 2019 in Prayagraj.
The ban was supposed to be lifted in March but the tanneries were not allowed to reopen rendering many workers jobless.
District magistrate, Kanpur, Vijay Vishwas Pant said a special purpose vehicle (SPV) was in place and the process of setting up a separate treatment plant was underway.
“UP Jal Nigam will transfer land for the treatment plant to the SPV which has been named as Jajmau tannery effluent treatment association,” said the DM who is also the chairman of the SPV.
The first meeting of SPV was held on Monday in which senior officers of the district administration and office-bearers of tanneries’ associations, including Firoz Alam and Hafizur Rehman, were present.
The company which will set up the treatment plant will give a presentation of the detailed project report (DPR) before the chairman and directors next week.
“The government has cleared a project of ₹617 crore for checking the release of tannery waste into the Ganga. Of this, ₹480 crore will be used to set up 20 MLD treatment plant while the remaining amount will be used for the maintenance of the plant,” the DM said.
Pant said the treatment plant would be set up as per the standards of the UP Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) to ensure that there were least chances of closing down of tanneries to check pollution in the Ganga.
Meanwhile, a special committee headed by state minister Satish Mahana has also recommended opening of Kanpur tanneries which are lying closed.
Earlier, chief minister Yogi Adityanath had constituted a high-powered committee to examine if the waste from tanneries was being discharged directly into the river. The committee had to examine if the tanneries were following the standards fixed by UPPCB to check river pollution.
The committee examined the tannery waste flow and recommended opening of all the tanneries which were following the standards of UPPCB.
The committee has submitted its report to the government for approval.
