Among the industries, I guess the leather industry is the one that comes to mind when talking about Kanpur... and as we scroll through the media reports related to Ganga pollution, everyone seems to primarily blame this city and the leather tanneries inside the city for the same. The media reports are not wrong.
However, my take on this debate is, it's not only the tanneries that should be blamed, the blame should equally be taken by the law enforcers in the city, and also the Central Government. The law enforcers, because they are corrupt and for a hefty sum as bribe they give a clean chit to the industries that are dumping their waste, especially the carcinogens (chromium used in tanning of leather) directly into the Ganga. It be known that most tanneries are conveniently situated near the banks of the Ganga. By law each one of them has to have its own waste water treatment plant that can trap the chromium to be reused in tanning (NEWS in Times of India). However, most choose otherwise... it is cheaper to buy new chemicals rather than to set up a waste treatment plant.
November 18th my father-in-law arranged for a visit to one factory which actually uses their own waste treatment plant, and they had no problem, what so ever, to show us around. However, there are hundreds of other factories that do not have those treatment plants, yet they are not only functioning but are thriving... courtesy corrupt law enforcers in the city. This is despite numerous reports that chromium from these leather industries is seeping into the food chain. The chromium goes into the Ganga waters and this same water is used for irrigation... and during the dry seasons the fertile Ganga water bed is also used to cultivate Water Melons, Melons, Bitter Gourd, Cucumber, etc...
I just wonder why pollution of this great river does not matter to them? I guess it is because their livelihood is not directly dependent upon the quality of water in the Ganga... and they make more in bribes than what they get in their salary...
We also visited a water treatment plant that was commissioned in the 80's as a part of the Ganga Action Plan (phase I) to treat the waste water from the city and that coming from the then existing 175 tanneries in the area. And today there are over 400 tanneries ... and the treatment plant still runs at the same capacity it was built for... what a joke!!! Didn't the government realize then that the number of industries would go up in the area? On top of that there is no money for the upgrading the facility.
Prior to taking this tour of the city we went for a boat ride in the Ganga to see the plight by our own eyes. The sewage was being dumped with no check at all... no cleaning what so ever at all. The flow was so fast that if it was night time it could easily be mistaken for a water fall... this was at Jajmau. Not only that... as we rode up stream... there were slums all along the Ganga... and the waste from individual houses was finding its way into the river...
Yet again... Ganga has given us so much... this time a natural and free sewage system and we are just taking away life from the river who many regard as рдоाँ (mother).
Later that day we went to another ghat where they build boats. I assumed there would be big factories building boats... I couldn't be more wrong. The boats were being built by hand, and the industry was almost non- existent with only one family busy with the boat making. Reason being... there was no money in the business. Any one person would make only like Rs 400 per boat... with a boat being sold for about Rs 7000 and profit divided between the workers - 4-5 of them.
Before I end this post I have to write about this gentleman. I saw him early in the morning as we were having our breakfast of Chhole Bhature near the Green Park Stadium. He was igniting the coal in an angeethi (an open stove that uses coal to cook or warm). As he was doing that he was also singing... although not a singer myself or having any knowledge of music... I was pleasantly surprised by his voice... and I could not resist myself from recording it. It is here:
However, my take on this debate is, it's not only the tanneries that should be blamed, the blame should equally be taken by the law enforcers in the city, and also the Central Government. The law enforcers, because they are corrupt and for a hefty sum as bribe they give a clean chit to the industries that are dumping their waste, especially the carcinogens (chromium used in tanning of leather) directly into the Ganga. It be known that most tanneries are conveniently situated near the banks of the Ganga. By law each one of them has to have its own waste water treatment plant that can trap the chromium to be reused in tanning (NEWS in Times of India). However, most choose otherwise... it is cheaper to buy new chemicals rather than to set up a waste treatment plant.
Slide Show (please use arrows to scroll)
November 18th my father-in-law arranged for a visit to one factory which actually uses their own waste treatment plant, and they had no problem, what so ever, to show us around. However, there are hundreds of other factories that do not have those treatment plants, yet they are not only functioning but are thriving... courtesy corrupt law enforcers in the city. This is despite numerous reports that chromium from these leather industries is seeping into the food chain. The chromium goes into the Ganga waters and this same water is used for irrigation... and during the dry seasons the fertile Ganga water bed is also used to cultivate Water Melons, Melons, Bitter Gourd, Cucumber, etc...
I just wonder why pollution of this great river does not matter to them? I guess it is because their livelihood is not directly dependent upon the quality of water in the Ganga... and they make more in bribes than what they get in their salary...
We also visited a water treatment plant that was commissioned in the 80's as a part of the Ganga Action Plan (phase I) to treat the waste water from the city and that coming from the then existing 175 tanneries in the area. And today there are over 400 tanneries ... and the treatment plant still runs at the same capacity it was built for... what a joke!!! Didn't the government realize then that the number of industries would go up in the area? On top of that there is no money for the upgrading the facility.
Prior to taking this tour of the city we went for a boat ride in the Ganga to see the plight by our own eyes. The sewage was being dumped with no check at all... no cleaning what so ever at all. The flow was so fast that if it was night time it could easily be mistaken for a water fall... this was at Jajmau. Not only that... as we rode up stream... there were slums all along the Ganga... and the waste from individual houses was finding its way into the river...
Yet again... Ganga has given us so much... this time a natural and free sewage system and we are just taking away life from the river who many regard as рдоाँ (mother).
Later that day we went to another ghat where they build boats. I assumed there would be big factories building boats... I couldn't be more wrong. The boats were being built by hand, and the industry was almost non- existent with only one family busy with the boat making. Reason being... there was no money in the business. Any one person would make only like Rs 400 per boat... with a boat being sold for about Rs 7000 and profit divided between the workers - 4-5 of them.
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