Footprint of Leather Tanning Industry

An attempt was made in the present study to given an account on possible impact of the leather tanning industry on the lives of its workers of leather tanning industry in Ambur City as well as on environment. Accordingly, the workers of tannery industry near Thuthipet road and Devalapuram road, Ambur expressed that working in wet conditions, handling chemicals and reportedly stated that the chemicals inside the industry have very strong smell/ odour, which makes them dizzy at times, many a times, facing severe joint pain in the knees, eye irritation besides skin rashes and discoloration of the skin. Majority of the respondents / workers (70%) stated that their health was in poor to bad condition. Further, the semi-structured questionnaire-based interview was conducted with inhabitants in their residence and outside their residence (shops, restaurants, and temple) to apprehend the level of degradation on the environment due to the leather tanning industry through the eyes of localinhabitants. The respondents opined that Palar river has got contaminated with inflow of huge amount of tannery wastes in the form of mixture of both solid and liquid materials.