Kanpur tanneries threatened with three-month closure
24/05/2018
When Yogi Adityanath was chosen as the state’s head of government in March 2017, tanners in and around Kanpur spoke of their fear that moves against the meat industry and its by-products were likely to follow and could even lead to the closure of tanneries.
His government’s immediate actions included a crackdown on slaughterhouses and meat outlets in Uttar Pradesh. This latest measure goes further.
The chief minister is reported to have ordered all tanneries in and around Kanpur to cease production on December 15, 2018 and to remain closed for three months to prevent contamination in the River Ganga at Allahabad, about 200 kilometres downriver from Kanpur during the 2019 Ardh Kumbh Mela festival, during which pilgrims will bathe in the river.
President of the Uttar Pradesh Leather Industry Association, Taj Alam, has told local media that, during previous Kumbh festivals, tanneries had been asked to interrupt wet-end processing for a short time around particularly important dates, but he said closing down all operations for three months would threaten jobs and export revenues.
Uttar Pradesh’s leather industry includes the important cluster at Jajmau in Kanpur, which has as many as 400 tanneries. The nearby clusters of Bantha and Unnao are smaller, with 25 and 15 operations respectively.
Mr Alam has told leatherbiz that tanners have, so far, received no confirmation of the proposed closures from the authorities but said the chief minister had spoken about the measures in a recent press conference. He said: “If such a policy is implemented in letter and in spirit it will be a big blow to the leather industry in this region.”
He added that, if it does come into effect, there is hope that the tanneries in Unnao and Bantha will be allowed to continue.
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