Leather body seeks West Bengal CM role on cattle trade ban

Kolkata: The leather association in Kolkata will seek the appointment of chief minister Mamata Banerjee in the coming week, urging her to intervene in the Centre’s notification banning cattle trade in open market, for slaughtering animals.

“We will write to the CM on Monday and will seek an appointment with her, where we will urge her to take up our issue with the Centre. Didi has been inspiring small-scale industrialists in an innovative manner. She has been showing us the way. If the Centre doesn’t roll back or amend the notification, we might move Supreme Court against the order and will organise movement,” Imran Ahmed Khan, general secretary, Calcutta Leather Complex Tanners Association said. He added that 100 units at Calcutta Leather Complex in South 24 Parganas had been shut down, rendering 4,000 people jobless.

Regional chairman (East) Council of Leather Exports, Ramesh Kumar Juneja termed the notification a “death certificate” for the leather industry. “We are yet to recover from the demonetisation. The GST will hit us soon with additional taxes. Meanwhile, if this notification comes into force, we will have to look for importing leather for meeting our customers’ demands,” Mr Juneja said.

Md Zia Nafis, panel convenor (finished leather), Council of Leather Exports (CLE) said that the leather industry in Bengal depended upon 50 per cent of buffalo leather and 27 per cent cow leather. “We have a supply stock of about three months, within which this problem should be sorted. Otherwise, the leather industry, which accounts for Rs 13,000 crore in turnover – Rs 6,000 cr in exports and Rs 7,000 cr for domestic market – will be badly hit. We will have to crumble under pressure of competition from China , Bangladesh and Pakistan,” he said. Bengal currently has close to 350 tanneries with around 1,500 leather goods exporters having an annual turnover of Rs 6,000 crore.