The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Monday condemned the UP Government over its failure to shift tanneries located on the banks of the Ganga in Kanpur after the latter said that it was not economically viable to do the same.
The bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said, tanneries cannot be given precedence over fundamental rights of citizens of clean air and good health.”You are a democratic Government in a federal structure. You are not a king that you have taken a decision and nobody can question it. You are not in favour of shifting tanneries and term it as your political will. Can a court of law accept a political will. If you say no, you must give proper reasons for it,” said the bench.
The plea of Samajwadi party on the issue of the economic non-feasibility behind not shifting of leather tanneries, was not accepted by the tribunal It said people cannot be allowed to suffer due to operation of leather units, which release high chromium in their effluents, and the Government must take a clear view on the issue.
The tribunal asked for concrete reasons, if any, for non transfer of tanneries.. The NGT said that if the State Government was ready to give land and provide infrastructure to tannery clusters, there should be no problem in shifting them. The hearing however remained inconclusive on Monday and will continue on Tuesday.
In a directive last week, the tribunal had stopped the Government from spending a single penny” for Ganga rejuvenation work between Haridwar and Unnao, saying a whopping `20,000 crore was being spent on the entire national project by officials who did not even know about the river.
The green panel had earlier divided the work of cleaning the river in different segments -- Gomukh to Haridwar (Phase-I), Haridwar to Unnao (termed as segment B of Phase-I), Unnao to border of Uttar Pradesh, border of Uttar Pradesh to border of Jharkhand and border of Jharkhand to Bay of Bengal.