Bengal Government coming up with a Gems and Jewellery hub at Bonhooghly

Kolkata, Sep 12: West Bengal Government is coming up with a Gems and Jewellery hub at Bonhooghly near North Kolkata on 6- acre plot. It is going to be developed by the State Government in collaboration with the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), the official sources here today said. Most of the jewellers who have workshops in the traditional jewellery hub of Bowbazar in the city would be allotted plots there. This is a major effort by the state government to bring down the level of pollution in Kolkata Plans are also on to build two common facility centres (CFC) in the state, which would house costly, state-of-the-art instruments for crafting jewellery. Smaller jewellers who would not be able to afford the cost to make use of the instruments can make parts of their jewellery there. In this connection, it must be mentioned that the state government, in collaboration with the GJEPC, has initiated the process of getting a geographical indication (GI) registration, conventionally known as a GI tag, for Kolkata-made jewellery, under the brand name of ‘Kolkatti’. The reasons for going for the GI registration of such jewellery are that these fine, hand-crafted jewellery are in big demand in the Middle East, US and UK, and, precisely because of this big demand, many people are selling jewellery, improperly branding them as Kolkata jewellery. UNI