The Kolkata Leather Complex is an industrial complex at Karaidanga,

Bantala Bantala is a neighbourhood of East Kolkata in the Indian state of West Bengal. Geography Area overview Baruipur subdivision is a rural subdivision with moderate levels of urbanization. 31.05% of the population lives in the urban areas and 68. ...

near

East Kolkata East Kolkata refers to the eastern areas of the city of Kolkata, India. It includes the localities of Metropolitan Township, Dhapa, Tangra, Bantala, Topsia, Tiljala, VIP Nagar, Anandapur, Kalikapur, Mukundapur, Ajoy Nagar, Panchasayar and cer ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It is located 20 km from the central business district of

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

and has an area of about 4.5 square kilometres. The complex is intended to serve as a central leather-tanning business for Kolkata. Bantala has approximately 500 tanneries and the Kolkata one performs 22-25% of all the tanning in India. The state of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

is responsible for about 55% of India's leather exports. As of 2009, about 200 tanneries were relocated to the Calcutta Leather Complex. The project includes a police station and a fire station; in 2017 the police station was brought under the jurisdiction of the Kolkata police. The facility also houses the

Government College of Engineering and Leather Technology The Government College of Engineering and Leather Technology, often referred to as GCELT, is an institute offering engineering courses at undergraduate levels in Computer Science & Engineering, Information Technology and Leather Technology, dip ...

, which is affiliated with

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology (MAKAUT), formerly known as West Bengal University of Technology (WBUT), is a public state university located in Kalyani, West Bengal, India. It is funded completely by the Government of West Be ...

, Kolkata. A portion was designated as an IT park. Pumping stations carry the effluent from the tanneries to a Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP). Problems in completing the common effluent treatment plant have caused serious difficulties, with

toxic waste Toxic waste is any unwanted material in all forms that can cause harm (e.g. by being inhaled, swallowed, or absorbed through the skin). Mostly generated by industry, consumer products like televisions, computers, and phones contain toxic chemi ...

polluting the construction activities of some companies. The complex was conceived in the early 1990s as "an integrated complex housing all activities relating to the leather industry in a modern and environment-friendly manner". The need for the project became evident when the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...

ordered that all tanning activities in Kolkata be moved outside the city limits. As of 2013, the complex was still not fully operational, and many illegal tanneries continued to operate outside the complex. On February 2023, a data came out about new and existing investments in this industrial complex. Kolkata Leather Complex to get 10000

crore A crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes ten million (10,000,000 or 107 in scientific notation) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. It is written as 1,00,00,000 with the local 2,2,3 style of digit group separators (one lakh is e ...

new investment which currently has an investment worth of 30000 crore. The proposed expansion would make it South Asia's Largest Integrated Leather Complex.

References

Buildings and structures in Kolkata Indian leather industry {{India-struct-stub