58 THE WEEK • AUGUST 4, 2019
UTTAR PRADESH
LEATHER INDUSTRY
A
n overpowering smell of chemical and
contamination, made worse by the still
summer air, hangs over the riverside slum of
Budhiaghat in Kanpur.
“I will kill myself if anyone shows me one drop
of black water falling into the Ganga because of my
work. The river belongs to everyone,” says Kishwari,
a resident. The work she refers to falls under leather
trade—the district’s most famous industry that is
over a century old. More than seven months after
the government initiated a major clampdown,
prompted by the high levels of river pollution the
industry was creating, loss of livelihood has brought
misery of the kind never reported before.
While the industry involves a trade of many parts,
the government’s anti-pollution measure is focused
on tanning, which is the treatment and preparation
of raw hide for manufacturing. Tanning requires
large amounts of water and several chemicals,
the most significant of which is chromium. When
pumped back into rivers, it makes the water and soil
toxic and aquatic life unsustainable. In Kanpur’s
Jajmau area and its neighbouring district of Unnao,
where most of the state’s tanneries are sited, the
level of chromium in water has been persistently
found to be much higher than the acceptable limit
of 0.05mg/litre.
The ‘Status of Trace and Toxic Metals in Indian
Rivers’, a 2018 report of the water
resources ministry that cited the above
limit, notes: “It [chromium] can cause
allergic reactions, such as skin rash...
respiratory problems... lung cancer and
death.”
These concerns are not new. Yet,
the initial orders for the closure of
tanneries between December 15 and
March 15 were made to ensure clean
water in the river during the Kumbh
Mela at Prayagraj. This decision was
not peculiar to the Yogi Adityanath
Leather
bind
Closure of tanneries in
Kanpur brings environmental
and employment concerns
to a head
BY PUJA AWASTHI
UNCERTAINTY
LOOMS
A closed tannery
in Kanpur
PAWAN KUMAR