Kumbh Mela: All leather tanneries in Kanpur, Unnao shut for 3 mths; over 3 lakh workers without jobs

AGRA: An unprecedented 3 lakh workers in UP’s Kanpur and Unnao are without jobs for the last three days while the leather factories where they were employed are staring at a loss of Rs 4,000 crore per month due to the UP government’s order of shutting down all the tanneries for three months to keep the Ganga water clean for Kumbh in Allahabad.
Apparently moved by the loss to the local businesses, the Union commerce ministry has also asked the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government for a rethink.
The UP government had ordered closure of all the tanneries between December 15 and March 15 in view of Kumbh Mela. Recently, a petition against the order was also filed in Allahabad high court. In a reply during the hearing, the UP Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) said that it has allowed tanneries to operate at 50% capacity.
However, on the ground, all the tanneries are shut and its workers, mostly daily wagers, are staring at a bleak future.
Taj Alam, vice chairman of UP Leather Industries Association, said the situation will turn worse in the coming days.
“Leather business, both export and domestic, from Kanpur and Unnao is around Rs 4,000 crore a month. It will now suffer badly,” he said.
When asked about the 50% relaxation, Alam said that all the factory effluent has to go through a common government treatment plant, which is shut. “So practically we cannot start work even if we are allowed,” he said.
“The tanneries have been asked to shut down just to stop effluent discharge in Ganga, as the common effluent treatment plant of Jal Nigam is non-functional,” Alam said. He said that the Jal Nigam has now claimed that their plant is functional but they need the nod from the UP Pollution Control Board to start it.
He added: “If the board gives them the nod, the tanneries will be allowed to operate at a 50% capacity. But I don’t think that will happen soon.”
Almost 300 tanneries and a slaughter house have downed their shutter since December 15, rendering nearly three lakh workers jobless.
“We had given a representation to the chief minister and chief secretary. But our demand was not considered,” said Alam.
He added that usually the tanneries were closed for a few days before the designated bathing days during the Kumbh.
“It has never happened that businesses have been shut down for a period of 3 months,” he said.
The meat processing industry in the region has also been hit as it is not able to dispose hide and other by-products due to closure of the tanneries. Fauzan Alavi, spokesperson of All India Meat and Livestock Exporters Association, said that there are seven meat plants in the region and one has already closed down. "The remaining are operating under tight watch and much their below capacity," he said.