MPs survey leather sector units

The working conditions and allied issues of the unorganised leather and leather goods manufacturing sector was in focus in the Kolkata chapter of the visit of the Parliamentary standing committee on commerce.

The leather industry if optimally utilised can result in empowerment of the women in the villages, said K Keshava Rao,chairman of the standing committee. Self help groups of women craftsmen should be encouraged, he added.

A 10 member team comprising members of Parliament of the 31 member committee visited tanning as well as manufacturing units to assess the condition of the leather industry in the state.

The committee will prepare a report that will be tabled in the winter session of the Parliament. The report will recommend measures to spur growth and ensure sustainability of the leather industry.

The team visited Delhi and Chennai earlier last week and will go to Kanpur and Agra next. Kolkata contributes to nearly 15 per cent of the leather exports from the country.

Chennai's export share was 55 per cent. Given the availability of skilled manpower in the region, eastern India had great potential for growth, claimed S Bannerjee, regional director of the Council for Leather Exports.

There were around 700 tanneries, both small and big, around the city. Responding to the issues of the unorganised sector, Rao said that the working conditions of the leather goods manufacturing units could be improved if the cluster model was implemented.

Clusters with common facility centers could provide technical support to unorganised units, he said after visiting the gloves-manufacturing units at Beliaghata. West Bengal accounted for around 70 per cent of the total gloves exported from the country.

Moreover, the committee is likely to recommend the state government on speeding up the process of implementing the value added tax (VAT) system for tanners, and manufacturers, as in-principle nod on the matter was in hand.

West Bengal levied VAT of 12.5 per cent on leather goods, but other states did not.

Tanners at the Calcutta Leather Complex (CLC) at Bantala complained against the high price of land charged by promoter M L Dalmiya and Company (MLD), claiming it was higher than the price promised at the time of relocation.

Tanners claimed they were promised land at Rs 600 per square metre, but now MLD was charging Rs 2500 per square metre.

Tanners objected to the levy imposed on them by the state government for putting up the common effluent treatment plant (CETP) at the complex, set up with state and central government funding.