Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of a series of projects at Bantala Leather Complex on Thursday. State Finance and Industry minister Amit Mitra would be present on the occasion as well. She will inaugurate a Leather Goods Park where 20 leather goods manufacturing units are already operational, with 50 more in the pipeline. Eight of these units are ready to start operation and are expected to bring investments to the tune of Rs 200 crore, generating employment opportunity for 10,000 people. "There will be a total of 90 units which will have employment scope for 1 lakh people in the Leather Park itself and the export figure will be Rs 3,500 crore," a senior Nabanna official said on Wednesday. Banerjee on Thursday will also allot plots to new tanneries and No Objection Certificates (NOC) would be handed over to existing units. It may be mentioned that at present 385 tanneries and 40 leather goods units are operational in Bantala Leather Complex. However, 220 tannery units and 50 leather goods units have been waiting for NOC from the West Bengal Pollution Control Board, with the lack of required infrastructure for effluent discharge. "We have decided to install necessary infrastructure including four Combined Effluent Treatment Plants and Sewage Treatment Plants for catering to these units along with the new ones," the official added. In the first phase, 70 acres of land is being allotted to 187 new tanneries while in the second phase, plots will be offered to 250 new leather goods units. Out of these 187 companies, 28 are big category, 97 are medium category and 62 are small category companies. Among these, 29 units are from Kanpur, two from Chennai and 156 from Kolkata. As per projection of the state government, the present turnover, which is around Rs 13,500 crore, will go up to Rs 27,000 crore in the next few years. More than 2 lakh people are directly and indirectly employed and once all new and old units become operational, 5 lakh people would be employed. Banerjee will also lay the foundation stone for a footwear park on Thursday, which will spread over an area of 60 acres. It is expected to have an investment of Rs 800 crore to generate export of Rs 5,000 crore. The employment potential is projected at 7,000. The state government is currently providing six buses for transportation of thousands of workers engaged in the tannery and leather sector.

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