The Council for Leather Exports (CLE) is planning to set up a leather mega-cluster in Haryana and it is holding talks with the government to explore the possibility.In 2011, when the CLE made announcement about mega-clusters, the officials said tanneries will also be co-located with suppliers, leather goods manufacturers, along with a state of the art effluent treatment plant.
As early as February this year, Rafeeque Ahmed, President, CLE opined that the firms in the leather industry should take a call whether they want identify and purchase the sites for the cluster projcts. "In turn, the government assitance would come in the form of infrastructure improvements such as better roads, access to water, energy and communication technology. Therefore, we are optimistic that the mega-clusters would start functioning within the next five years", Ahmed said.
In fact, CLE has identified two sites, one near New Delhi and the other one in Ranipet near Chennai. According to the official, CLE had reached an agreement with the Union government for establishing seven of these sites across the country.
Last week, a CLE team led by Ahmed had a meeting with Haryana Chief Minister bhupinder Singh Hooda. According to industry grapevines, CLE had identified Mewat as an ideal location for setting up one of the mega-clusers for leather. Predominently, an agricultural district, Mewat has developed a manufacturing zone: Industrial Model Township, where the CLE is planning to set up one of the mega-clusters for leather. Many firms have elicited interest in the Haryana project and they include P&G Enterprises, Ranvik Exports, Century Overseas and Discovery Leathers.
Local media reported that after the meeting, CLE has calculated that the proposed leather mega-cluster at Mewat could generate in excess of 50,000 jobs from that region. Moreover, some local dailies reported that the proposal involved only finished leather goods and not for a separate tannery at Mewat.
