The primary case against the tanneries is that they discharge effluents into the Ganga
KANPUR: As the New Delhi-Lucknow Shatabdi pulls into Kanpur Central station, a recorded voice message crackles to life on the train’s public announcement system. It tells you, among other things, that you’ve arrived at a city best known for its leather industry.
But Kanpur’s Rs 26,000-crore leather industry is facing its worst crisis in recent history. The city is a manufacturing hub for finished buffalo leather products and specialised goods ranging from harnesses and saddlery, to leather bags, shoes and apparel. It is also, tanners say, the main producer of leather belts and holsters for police forces across India.
Of about 260 operational tanneries by the Ganga, nearly 90% were forced to down their shutters on account of the Kumbh Mela that ended on March 15. Orders to reopen tanneries have subsequently not been issued, and tanneries, in their sixth-month of closure, are now pegging cumulative manufacturing losses at over Rs 7,000 crore.
It is not unusual for tanneries to be shut for Kumbh. As an additional safety measure for the Ardh Kumbh Mela in Allahabad this year, the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government ordered all industries, including Kanpur tanneries shut between November 18, 2018 and March 15, 2019 to ensure the Ganga was cleaner.
But 90% of tanneries still remain shut because the UP Pollution Control Board has not withdrawn orders suspending work. As a result, the hamstrung leather industry is losing business to Pakistan, Brazil and Bangladesh among other countries, Small Tanners’ Association member Nayyar Jamal tells TOI. The bulk of labour involved has either gone back to villages, or migrated to Kolkata, in search of employment, he adds.
ADVERTISEMENT
At the peak of election season — Kanpur will vote on April 29 — the closure of the leather industry, and loss of livelihood for over 5 lakh people directly and indirectly affected by the decision, is a crucial poll issue. Tannery associations and businesses say the closure reeks of political bias. “We are fighting a major perception battle. These businesses have taken years to build,” says Jamal. “It seems like a conspiracy to destabilise and destroy Kanpur’s leather industry. They’ve pushed us to the extent that restarting will be difficult,” adds Haji Mohammed Ishaq, patron of Upper India Tannery.
About 80% of the leather businesses in Kanpur and Unnao is owned by Muslims. Even the gathbandhan candidate from Kanpur, Ram Kumar Nishad, is a tannery owner. It was probably why SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, when he addressed a poll rally in Kanpur, said Modi was “gifting Kanpur’s leather business to Pakistan”. While the revenue and job losses stack up and pose a challenge to BJP, party candidate Satyadev Pachauri, also the state’s MSME minister, has maintained BJP will remain uncompromising in its commitment to the Ganga and tanneries must comply with pollution control norms.
The primary case against the tanneries is that they discharge effluents into the Ganga. However, it’s mandatory for all tanneries to set up primary treatment plants. These are regularly audited by UP Jal Nigam. Kanpur also has a common treatment plant, which treats about 9MLD effluent from tanneries. A 22km drain carries treated water and irrigates huge tracts of agricultural land around the leather hub in Jajmau.
