CPCB to shut down 400 polluting units in Kanpur

KANPUR: The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has decided to close down about 400 industries, including tanneries and the dyeing units, situated near the banks of the Ganga in Kanpur for their failure to install online monitoring system for assessing the waste generated by them. The CPCB had directed the industries to set up the system by February 28, 2017, but most of them did not comply with the directives till date.

KANPUR: The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has decided to close down about 400 industries, including tanneries and the dyeing units, situated near the banks of the Ganga in Kanpur for their failure to install online monitoring system for assessing the waste generated by them.

The CPCB had directed the industries to set up the system by February 28, 2017, but most of them did not comply with the directives till date.

Consequently, the CPCB has started issuing issuing closure notices to the industries. So far board has issued closure notices to about 18 tanneries and dyeing industries.

Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) regional officer Dr Mohammad Sikander said that since the CPCB has been issuing closure notices, action would be initiated against the tanneries and industries as soon as the UPPCB received copies of the notices from the CPCB.

At present it was not known as to which industries were issued the notices, he added.

Sikander said there were 400 tanneries and about 60 dyeing industries. About 30 to 40 big tanneries have installed the online monitoring system but, as per reports of the various survey teams appointed by the CPCB and the government, a large number of small and medium sized tanneries and dyeing industries have not installed the system.

A team of experts from IIT-K, BHU-IIT and CRLI had also observed that a large number of small and medium scale tanneries and the dyeing industries had not installed the system. Consequently all such tanneries and industries would be issued closure notices, he said.

Rakesh Singh, a dye industry owner, said that the online monitoring system was a costly affair and medium or small scale dyeing industries or tanneries could not afford it. “But we are ready to accept Combined Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP)”, he added.

Similarly, Shahid Khan, who has a small scale tanning unit supported the CETP, instead of installation of online monitoring system individually, which required over ₹30 lakh investment.

MOST OF THE GENERATED WASTE WAS DISCHARGED IN THE RIVER WITHOUT BEING TREATED DESPITE THE STRICT ORDERS FOR WASTE TREATING