Done/ALVI
Times News Network
Kanpur: Ganga pollution control unit (GPCU) of jal nigam has asked the regional pollution control board (RPCB) to withdraw the permission given to 37 tanneries of Jajmau for hide processing.
In a letter sent to the pollution control board on February 11, Mohd Ahsan, project manager, jal nigam, informed that some tanneries were not making payment of the bills raised against them for using 36 mld common effluent treatment plant (CETP) in Jajmau. Out of around 348 tanneries, which were operational at present, most of them were paying partial minimum payment against the raised bill due to which it became difficult to operate CETP, he said.
The names of 37 tanneries were enclosed which were not paying any dues since June 2018 although notices had been served to them, he further said.
The project manager while talking to TOI said, “I have sent a list of 13 tanneries which are not paying any dues. As per the agreement and the directions of the Apex Court, Kanpur Municipal Corporation (KMC) and the tanneries of Jajmau have to bear 50 percent cost of operation of 36 mld CETP”.
As per our record, the KMC has to pay Rs 14.36 crore while the tanneries Rs 16.71 crore. Neither the KMC nor the tanneries were paying their dues, and the jal nigam pollution unit used to bear operational cost of CETP to the tune of Rs 80 lakh per month. The unit had written a letter to the KMC warning it that operation of CETP would be closed if payments were not made by February 28, Ahsan further said.
In 2007, the rate was Rs 5.40 per hide with a condition that every year it would be raised by 7 .25 percent, he said. As per 2018 norms, the rate became Rs 20.35 per hide and since then the tanneries have stopped making payments, he said.
Tanneries Association had filed four cases in the court against increase made in the rates but no court has so far restrained jal nigam to collect the bills on the given rates.
When the tanneries approached the divisional commissioner urging him to revise rates, he formed a committee under the chairmanship of the district magistrate and directed him to settle the issue. The tanneries association in a meeting held on October 29, 2020 demanded to calculate the rate on the basis of actual expenditure of 2017-18 for the year 2018-19, Ahsan said .
“Jal Nigam is not in a position to disburse salaries to its employees for the couple of months and the CETPs operational cost of Rs. 80 lakh per month is an extra burden which it cannot bear. In these circumstances, jal nigam has no other alternative except to shut down the CETP”, Ahsan further said .