Is the administration taking enough initiative to close down the polluting leather-making units?
Chetana Sharma: Everybody knows how efficient the administration is. The tannery units have installed treatment effluent plant but they do not run it. Clearly, there is some manipulation that the tannery owners are resorting to. The tanneries continue to empty their waste and foul the river. Also, there are illegal colonies that have come up on the edges of the Ganga. There should be green belt in place of these colonies. The tannery waste water is also being directed to the downstream villages. Chetana Sharma: Yes, I recently visited these villages. The villagers are suffering from skin problems. Some of them have become almost handicapped. A few can not walk. Their eyesight has also been affected. In such a backdrop, do you think that the irrigation tax that is being levied on these villagers justified? Chetana Sharma: No way. They should stop charging tax from the hapless villagers immediately. How do you envisage a plan for Ganga that can bring back its lost glory? Chetana Sharma:
