Double whammy! After Namami Gange, Kumbh Mela 2019 to hit Kanpur tanneries

Kanpur leather cluster, which also comprises the nearby Unnao district, is estimated at Rs 120 billion, including Rs 60 billion worth of annual exports to the Gulf, Europe, China, Iran etc

The industrial town of Kanpur is popularly known by its erstwhile sobriquet of ‘Manchester of the East’ even though city's textiles mills, barring a few, have all closed down.

Kanpur’s other famous industry of leather and tanneries are now facing the same spectre of closure and sickness. In the backdrop of upcoming Kumbh Mela during January-March 2019 at Prayag, the tanneries have been asked to shut operations from December 15 to March 15, so that there is no effluent discharge in downstream Ganga meandering towards Allahabad.

Besides, under the Namami Gange and other projects as part of the ongoing National