Kolkata: Representatives of the Calcutta Leather Complex Tanners’ Association (CLCTA) have urged West Bengal minister of state for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Ashok Dinda to intervene on issues related to water supply, roads, the treatment plant and drainage, and to facilitate the removal of alleged illegal encroachments inside the Kolkata Leather Complex (KLC) at Bantala.The association said the obstructions have stalled critical infrastructure development and affected the competitiveness of the state’s leather industry.They also urged the minister to help them with setting up a hospital and a fire station inside the complex, land for which was earmarked when the leather complex was conceptualised.Traders met the minister during the first business meeting convened by the MSME Department at Shilpa Sadan to review issues concerning the leather hub. According to the traders, more than 1,000 illegal encroachments, along with cycle vans and other unauthorised vehicles, are obstructing the construction and maintenance of roads, drainage networks and other civic infrastructure within the complex.Association members told the minister that inadequate infrastructure, coupled with recurring problems related to water supply, roads, the common effluent treatment plant and solid waste drainage, has adversely affected business over the past two years.The minister assured the tanners of all the cooperation from the govt.Asif Iqbal, general secretary of the CLCTA, said the prolonged infrastructure deficiencies resulted in significant losses for tannery owners by affecting production, exports and buyer confidence.“The industry has suffered because of persistent problems relating to water supply, roads, the treatment plant and drainage. These challenges have impacted our international business and buyer relationships. We also lost the Leather Working Group certification, which greatly strengthened the credibility of the Kolkata Leather Complex in global markets,” said Iqbal.The Leather Working Group (LWG) certification is an internationally recognised sustainability standard that helps leather manufacturers demonstrate responsible environmental practices to global buyers.The Kolkata Leather Complex was conceived in the mid-1990s after the then Left Front govt acquired around 1,100 acres at Bantala to relocate nearly 600 tanneries from the densely populated areas of Topsia, Tangra and Tiljala following environmental concerns and court directives. The complex was developed with common infrastructure, including a centralised effluent treatment plant, to support environmentally compliant leather processing. In 2006, about 130 acres within the complex were earmarked for information technology industries. In 2019, the IT offices were shifted to New Town.The tanners expressed hope that the govt’s intervention would expedite the removal of encroachments and enable long-pending infrastructure upgrades, which they said are essential for restoring the leather cluster’s competitiveness in domestic and international markets.
