UPPCB closed 65 industrial units polluting Ganges, says official

Days after environment minister Jairam Ramesh expressed unhappiness over its inaction in cleaning the Ganges, the UP Pollution Control Board said it was working towards cleaning the river and had closed down 65 industrial units polluting it.

Ramesh, who was here to participate in 'Ganga river basin management workshop' organised by IIT-Kanpur on August 28, had rued the inaction of the board in working towards cleaning the Ganges and said the responsibility of making the river pollution free will now be entrusted upon the Central Pollution Control Board.

“Our department does not agree with Union minister's comment that the state pollution control board is inactive,” Radheshyam, regional officer of UPPCB said.

UPPCB has closed down 65 tanneries in Kanpur for polluting the river Ganges by discharging wastes into it without treatment and asked the administration to issue notices to seven more such tanneries. Eight factories involved in dyeing were already shut down to contain pollution at Farrukhabad, he said.

Ramesh has also ordered the Central Pollution Control Board to immediately shut down nearly 170 factories and tanneries located between Kannauj and Varanasi covering an area of 450 km that were found responsible for polluting the river by discharging wastes into it without treatment.

Ramesh also asked the Central Pollution Control Board not to depend on the state boards to carry out the order. Radheshyam, however, said there were no industrial units between Kannauj and Varanasi which is polluting the river by discharging wastes into it.