Unfinished tannery relocation in Bengal is typical of many MoEF projects, says CAG in its first-ever environment audit

A major environmental project initiated in south-east Kolkata relocating more than 500 tanneries in an integrated leather complex spread over 1,100 acres has failed to take off even after 12 years of its initiation, though more than Rs 135 crore has been spent already.

Until a decade ago, Kim Li Loi, Canton and Hot Wok, restaurants in the Chinatown locality of eastern Kolkata's Tangra district, collectively served as a tannery among scores of others run by