Double whammy! After Namami Gange, Kumbh Mela 2019 to hit Kanpur tanneries

The industrial town of Kanpur is popularly known by its erstwhile sobriquet of ‘Manchester of the East’ even though city's textiles mills, barring a few, have all closed down.

Kanpur’s other famous industry of leather and tanneries are now facing the same spectre of closure and sickness. In the backdrop of upcoming Kumbh Mela during January-March 2019 at Prayag, the tanneries have been asked to shut operations from December 15 to March 15, so that there is no effluent discharge in downstream Ganga meandering towards Allahabad.

Besides, under the Namami Gange and other projects as part of the ongoing National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), both the central and state governments have steadfastly reiterated that Ganga must be set free of all pollutants and discharge by 2022.

Of the total projects worth over Rs 200 billion under MNCG so far, the Centre has approved projects worth almost Rs 90 billion for UP alone, where Ganga traverses almost 1,000 km.

Recently, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath had announced no effluent would be allowed in Ganga after December 15 for Kumbh Mela. In fact, the state plans to construct ponds at every 100 km along the river course for rainwater harvesting and providing alternative water resources to the local community to curb pollution and overexploitation of Ganga.

Soon after Adityanath government had come to power in March 2017 and ordered closure of illegal slaughter houses, the Kanpur based tanneries had started facing the heat and acute supply crunch of the raw hide. A National Green Tribunal (NGT) order demanding closure of all polluting units made things worse for the industry.

Kanpur leather cluster, which also comprises the nearby Unnao district, is estimated at Rs 120 billion, including Rs 60 billion worth of annual exports to the Gulf, Europe, China, Iran etc. It provides direct and indirect employment to a million people in the region.

The 3-4 months closure during December-March is also likely to deprive the industry of arbitrage accruing from the devaluating India currency apart from impacting imports worth over Rs 40 billion, since the effective closure would be more than the mandated 3 months, since the units would have to be shut 10-15 days in advance to ensure there is zero discharge.

Small Tanners’ Association member Nayyar Jamal told Business Standard the local tanners were facing a bleak future, since there was no concrete action plan by the government to support the industry in its transition to a more eco-friendly platform.

“The proposed leather cluster at Ramaipur is still not ready and the state wants the tanners and leather units to shift to the new location from Jajmau. It is for the government to create the common infrastructure for industry, which continues to pay user charges for the existing Jajmau effluent treatment plant,” he claimed ruing that the levies had been increased from Rs 5.70 to Rs 20.35 per raw hide.

During peak time, the local tanneries were running on optimum capacity of processing about 15,000 hides a day, he said adding now the units were running half capacity due to sickness and some leather item manufacturers importing finished leather from other countries.

UP Leather Industries Association member Taj Alam lamented Kanpur leather industry was fast losing its reputation as a reliable supplier owing to frequent supply crunch and government policies that reek of unfavourable policy stance.

“The importers have the ready option to procure from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, China and Brazil, where there are no supply issues regarding cattle hide,” he informed. He said once an importer decides to source elsewhere, the whole import basket suffers.

Earlier, a large number of tanneries had closed down following the NGT order to curb pollution. The remaining tanneries have been asked to shift to Ramipur, where a treatment plant has been proposed at an investment of Rs 5.54 billion.

Currently, about 250 small and big tanneries are operational at Jajmau after the closure of more than 130 plants. The existing tanneries discharge about 6.7 million litres per day (MLD) of effluents.

UP comprises three major leather industry hubs viz. Kanpur-Unnao, Agra and Noida. Of the Rs 200 billion worth of annual UP leather industry, about 50% is accounted for by the export market. The state accounts for almost a third of India’s annual leather trade and exports.