New Delhi, Jul 12 (PTI) The National Green Tribunal today
directed the tannery clusters located at Banther and Unnao in
Uttar Pradesh on the banks of Ganga to install chromium
recovery plants within four weeks so that they do not
discharge any effluent in the drains pouring into the river.
Chromium recovery plant helps in removing trivalent
chromium from tannery waste water which is produced during the
processing of animal hides.
A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar
asked the leather units which have not set up these anti-
pollution devices to do so within the stipulated time and
warned that failure to do so would result in their closure.
The green panel said it would pronounce its judgement on
the second phase of the Ganga cleaning project between
Haridwar to Unnao in Uttar Pradesh tomorrow.
The Centre had earlier said that out of the 456 tanneries
identified to be polluting the Ganga when it flows through UP,
only 14 have been dismantled.
Among the 442 functional tanneries, 437 units are divided
in three clusters -- Kanpur (400), Banther (23) and Unnao (14)
-- which are connected to Common Effluent Treatment Plants
that are non-compliant of Central Pollution Control Board
norms, the Centre had said.
In April, the Yogi Adityanath-led UP government had
favoured the shifting of British-era tanneries releasing toxic
wastes into the river Ganga at Kanpur.
The UP government had told the NGT that the hunt for a
new site for these leather units, which are the "major source
of pollution" in Ganga, was under consideration and would be
identified soon.
Last year, the then Akhilesh Yadav government had opposed
the idea of shifting of over 400 tanneries giving employment
to over two million people, saying moving the tannery hubs to
some other place was almost "next to impossible" due to
paucity of land.
The green panel, however, said the decision to shift
tannery cluster rested entirely with the state government.
However, the existing industrial clusters at Jajmau and
Unnao required establishment of an entirely new Common
Effluent Treatment Plant with a separate chromium recovery
plant and separate pipelines.
In a detailed report covering various aspects of
contamination in the river, CPCB had informed the NGT that the
Ganga, spanning a distance of 543 km between Haridwar and
Kanpur, was affected by 1,072 seriously polluting industries
which were releasing heavy metals and pesticides.
Currently, 823.1 million litres per day (MLD) of
untreated sewage and 212.42 MLD of industrial effluent flows
into the river, while three of the four monitored Sewage
Treatment Plants were non-compliant with the set standards, it
said. PTI