AUGUST 4, 2019 • THE WEEK 61that people are committing suicide
and even selling their babies because
of loss of employment. But multiple
attempts to verify these claims drew
a blank.
Taj Alam says that hearsay and
exaggeration had muddied the core
issues of pollution and livelihood
loss. “The industry itself must bear its
share of blame. Zero discharge and
waterless discharge technologies are
used in Tamil Nadu, where tanneries
must buy water. It is not like here
with the Ganga flowing at your
doorstep,” he says.
Vinod Tare, professor of civil
engineering at the Indian Institute
of Technology, Kanpur, says there
is not just one decisive factor for
river health. “Tanneries, like other
industries, discharge effluents,
but are in no way responsible for
the volume of upstream flow into
the river,” says Tare, also founding
head of the Center for Ganga River
Basin Management and Studies.
“The sustainability of the closure is
under question, but polluters must
pay while government departments
cannot pass the buck. Our studies
show that moving to cleaner
technologies is commercially
viable and does not lead to loss of
employment.”
Farrukh Rehman Khan, regional
manager, WaterAid India, says there
are other issues of employee well-
being that require urgent address.
“The workers are mostly poor, live
in shanties and have poor access to
basic services such as clean drinking
water and toilets. More investments
in these will lead to higher
productivity,” he says.
Ghanshyam, regional officer of
Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control
Board, says, “We are looking at
any and all possible gaps that have
existed, including the working of
the treatment plant. No operations
are being allowed in good faith
anymore.” According to the UPPCB
data, the twin steps of releasing
more water into the Ganga and
the closure of polluting units have
led to improved measures of river
health. Take, for instance, the level
of dissolved oxygen—necessary for
aquatic life—at downstream Kanpur.
It was 5.50mg/litre in August 2018,
but rose to 9.3mg/litre in December.
Back in Budhiaghat, these
numbers make little sense to
Kishwari. “I do not want the river to
look or smell dirty. I do not want my
children to go hungry, either,” she
says.
It is a dilemma that cannot be left
unaddressed anymore.The government
is firm that not
a single drop of
untreated water will
flow into the Ganga.
Manoj Kumar Singh, principal
secretary of urban development,
Uttar Pradesh