With saints threatening to boycott next year’s Kumbh Mela if the water in Ganga river was not clean, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath asked officials to close down all tanneries in Kanpur between December 15 and March 15 or ensuring clean water in `Prayag’.

Reviewing ‘Namami Gange’ project in Lucknow on Thursday, the CM said that firm strategies be thrashed out to complete approved schemes under this project. He said that during the three-month long Kumbh Mela, waste should not be thrown into Ganga from Ganmukteshwar to Kashi.

“Officials should ensure that pilgrims taking holy dip in Ganga river during Kumbh get clean water,” Yogi stressed in the review meeting which was attended by tannery owners of Kanpur.

The CM was informed that 264 tanneries were operating presently while 136 tanneries were either closed or dismantled. It was said that about 6.7 MLD waste was released daily through 264 tanneries and Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) of 36 MLD capacity was installed to clean the waste.

When officials said that to upgrade Jajmau CETP, Rs 554 crores would be required, the CM said that budgetary allocations would be made and it should be ensured that adequate water was there in Ganga from December 2018 to March 2019.

A spokesman said that the state government was making massive efforts to make Kumbh Mela in Allahabad starting next January, a hiuge success.

Close tanneries for clean Ganga water, says Yogi