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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Clean Ganga project hurts livelihoods, divides communities -Deeptiman Tiwary

Clean Ganga project hurts livelihoods, divides communities -Deeptiman Tiwary

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published Published on Feb 18, 2017   modified Modified on Feb 18, 2017
-The Indian Express

Suspension of work during festivals to ensure a cleaner Ganga and cow vigilantism, which has led to closure of several abattoirs and brought raw hide supply to half, have made things worse.

Kanpur:
The Namami Ganga Project has hurt leather workshop owner Aqueel Ahmed, 27. His earnings have dwindled with the crackdown on factories polluting the river in Kanpur’s Jajmau area. A kilometre away, priest Ramesh Prasad Tiwari, 63, has a different take. He is happy with the project for completely opposite reasons. Tiwari’s earnings have plummeted due to increasing pollution in the river. He hopes that a cleaner Ganga would attract greater footfall at his temple on the river banks and boost his earnings. The contrasting views are symptomatic of how the Rs. 20,000-crore project has divided communities, something that is likely to be reflected in voting patterns on Sunday.

Ahmed supports the project but not at the cost of his livelihood. “I have seen much cleaner water and would love to have that back. But how is it being done. By killing the small leather businessmen,’’ he said. “I do not have the capital to set up an industrial effluent processing plant.’’ He said that the government was punishing them by pushing them out of business. The leather units are now required to first treat their effluent in primary treatment plants before releasing them to the government’s pumping stations for further cleaning. The decrease in demand for Indian leather abroad had since 2014 hit the industry. Suspension of work during festivals to ensure a cleaner Ganga and cow vigilantism, which has led to closure of several abattoirs and brought raw hide supply to half, have made things worse. This has led to closure of many tanneries in Jajmau, the hub of Kanpur’s leather industry. Many tannery owners are facing cases for polluting the Ganga.

Ahmed’s work has gone down significantly. “My father was a labourer in one of these factories. We rose from there to set up a small unit. The way things are going, I will have to go back to being a labourer.’’ Tiwari is nostalgic. “The water was so clear that we would just drink it. So many people used to come here to make offerings,’’ he said. “This (polluted) water turns silver anklets yellow and the white marble Shivling has turned black. Why will people come here?” He hopes Prime Minister Narendra Modi would bring back the Ganga and his fortunes to life. “Earlier, the water would be sticky. Now you can see some fish too."

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The Indian Express, 18 February, 2017, http://indianexpress.com/elections/uttar-pradesh-assembly-elections-2017/clean-ganga-project-hurts-livelihoods-divides-communities-4530729/


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