Calcutta Leather Complex stalemate continues

Calcutta Leather Complex (CLC), the state's showcase project, has come to a grinding halt with all three interested parties in the project, the government of West Bengal (GoWB), M L Dalmiya & Co (MLDC) and the tanneries, locked in a bitter fight over operatorship of the complex.

None of the entities could give a timeframe when production would start.

The 1,100 acre complex on the outskirts of Kolkata has attracted investment over Rs 400 crore from the entities. The Supreme Court had directed relocating tanneries to begin work at CLC from October 2002.

The court asked MLDC and GoWB to finish infrastructure at CLC which was done.

Two years have passed since then but no tannery has started operations at CLC till now. Though 430 tanneries were allotted land to relocate there, the only progress has been some building construction.

This has led to unpaid electricity bills of Rs 42 lakh, which MLDC has refused to pay. The bill was for running common facilities like street light and water pumps.

Tanneries have refused to pay because they have not started operations. The unpaid power bills were for the period October 2002 to August 2004. MLDC and GoWB expected the user tanneries to pay up for power.

Meanwhile, WBSEB has snapped power supply to CLC.

The state government intervened in the issue. In response, the tanneries have demanded operatorship of utilities be handed over to them.

This would mean scrapping of the GoWB contract with MLDC. Nonetheless, GoWB has asked the tanners to form a company with consent letters from all 430 relocating tanneries and equity participation as well.

Moreover, the company should have reasonable equity to be able to run and manage the utilities at CLC.

GoWB may then enter into an agreement with the company for transfer of operatorship. The process was likely to take a long time.

Work at CLC was therefore unlikely to resume before all these conditions were met.