Kanpur: The Regional Pollution Control Board on Monday issued noticesto 25 tannery owners after wastewater samples collected fromtheir units failed to meet prescribed environmental standards. The regionaloffice has also forwarded a detailed report to the State Pollution ControlBoard headquarters for further action.According to officials, teams of the Pollution Control Board had recentlycollected wastewater samples from 25 tannery units in Jajmau. Laboratoryexamination revealed that chromium content in the discharged water wasnearly three times higher than the permissible limit. Besides this, in someunits the Total Suspended Solids (TC+SS) control system was foundineffective, confirming that untreated polluted water was being dischargedfrom the factories.Following the findings, the board issued notices to tanneryowners. During the past seven days, notices have been served to a total of44 tanneries. On July 1, wastewater samples of around a dozen tanneries hadalso failed during testing, while seven tanneries were found operatingwithout obtaining mandatory consent letters from the department.Regional Pollution Control Board Officer Ajit Suman said that departmentalteams had been carrying out physical verification and technical inspectionsof tanneries in Jajmau for the last seven days. During the drive, 274tanneries were found operational, six were self-closed, 20 werenon-operational and 47 had been dismantled.He further stated that inspections of low-capacity tanneries revealedexcess stock of raw materials, prepared goods and a higher number ofworkers, indicating that production in several units was being carried outbeyond their sanctioned capacity.
