Government board bans salted hides in Kanpur
01/09/2010
CPCB chairman, SP Gautam, has said tanneries operating in the area the “biggest pollutants” of the stretch of the Ganges that runs through that part of India. He said he would give leather producers six months to eliminate salted hides from their supply chains.
He commented: “The tannery owners should start using saltless hides. This would have no effect on the quality of hide but help in bringing down the pollution level as less chemicals would be used.”
The local tanning industry in Kanpur has been under pressure to improve its environmental performance for some time. Earlier this year state government of Uttar Pradesh told the local leather industries association, the UPLA, that it will not permit any new tanning operations to set up in the Kanpur suburb of Jajmau.
At the same time, the government made it clear that the 418 tanneries that are in operation there already must improve their performance in waste management. Jajmau is on the banks of the River Ganges.
UPLA secretary, Imran Siddique, said on May 24 this year that his organisation supported moves to improve the environmental performance of the leather industry in Uttar Pradesh and even supported a government order that 65 Jajmau tanneries must move to a new site at Unnao, outside Kanpur.
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