West Bengal Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta on Tuesday pitched for vertical industrial parks as a solution to the state’s acute land scarcity, proposing multi-storey gems and jewellery hubs to revive the sector and prevent the exodus of skilled artisans.
Dasgupta said traditional land-intensive manufacturing setups faced spatial constraints in the state and suggested that vertical infrastructure could help address the problem.
“A particular problem which we face in West Bengal is the availability of land. There was a suggestion to set up a jewellery park in an industrial estate spread over 400 to 450 acres. I think we need to move away from horizontal growth and focus on vertical development,” Dasgupta said at a conclave organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce.
He said vertical parks were suited to high-value manufacturing and facilities such as customs clearance, design units, high-grade security and worker housing could be integrated into a single complex.
Urging immediate national-level intervention, the minister warned that India risked losing traditional skills unless artisans were given institutional recognition and dignity.
Expressing concern over the migration of West Bengal’s handcrafted jewellery artisans to manufacturing centres in Surat, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and southern India, he attributed the exodus to the treatment of the craft as an unorganised cottage industry and an “anti-business climate” in the state over the past 50 years.
“The challenge before us is how do we rationalise this and bring people so that it has a natural competitive edge, by bringing the producers to where the production centre is,” he said.
To revive the sector, Dasgupta proposed specialised training institutes and universities under a unified nationwide network, with branches in Kolkata, Surat and Navi Mumbai.
He also called for national coordination on mandatory hallmarking standards and streamlined transit security for high-value cargo to take advantage of shifting global supply chains away from Europe.
Announcing that the state government will unveil its comprehensive investment policy ahead of the Durga Puja festival, Dasgupta invited major national jewellery houses to invest in the state, promising full administrative support.
-PTI
