Leather hub taking shape on Patna outskirts

PATNA: A reverse migration of Bihari artisans and entrepreneurs doing well in leather industry at Dharavi in Mumbai will be witnessed in 2014 with a cluster of small leather units located in three multistoried industrial towers designed by eminent architect Hafeez Contractor at Fatuha Industrial estate in Patna district, about 25km from the state capital, going on stream.
Construction of the three buildings will start soon, said an official of Bihar Foundation, Satya Narayan Singh. This would be the first vertical industrial structure to be developed in Bihar on the model of industrially developed countries, he said. The leather industry cluster has been registered under acronym APARNA (Association of Progressive and Resurgent Nationalist Awam) and is being led by a social activist and leather entrepreneur, Ahsan Hussain.
When this leather cluster becomes fully operational, around 10,000 artisans, entrepreneurs and artisan-turned-entrepreneurs would be engaged in it. Initially, the leather cluster will start with 4,000 artisans and entrepreneurs. Of this, at least 150 would be the artisans-turned-entrepreneurs who have honed their skills in manufacturing leather suitcases, jackets, purses, belts and other leather items.
The leather cluster will house the micro and small leather units in 500 square feet, 1,000 square feet and 5,000 square feet floor spaces in the three multistoried buildings. 'Bhoomi pujan' of the land was done on Akshay Tritiya day on April 24, 2012.
The Mumbai chapter of Bihar Foundation traced the leather entrepreneurs from Bihar at Dharavi and came to know about their inclination to set up their units in their native state. Their return to Bihar would be for economic reason as Bihar is safe and they will have the opportunity to establish bigger units in Bihar, said the chairman of Bihar Foundation's Mumbai chapter, Ravishankar Srivastava, an income-tax commissioner in Mumbai.
The leather entrepreneurs would have their factory outlets at Dharavi in Mumbai for marketing the 'Made in Bihar' products, Singh said. Bihar Foundation, incidentally, is a wing of the state industries department functioning in a corporate manner to bring investments to the state.