The government has taken up an ambitious joint-venture project to set up a diamond-cutting and jewellery complex, on the lines of Mumbai’s Jhaveri Bazaar, on the EM Bypass.

The first of its kind in eastern India, the Rs 100-crore project will come up in collaboration with a group of Bengali diamond-cutters and setters based in Mumbai, Gujarat and Dubai.

“We have received a draft project report from interested entrepreneurs and we will send a team across on Monday to identify the plot on the Bypass,” said commerce and industry minister Nirupam Sen on Thursday.

More than 80 per cent of the skilled diamond-cutters and setters in the country are from Howrah and Hooghly districts.

“The diamond is of little value if it is not properly cut. So, realising the immense expertise we have in our own state, we have decided to set up this complex,” minister Sen added.

Over 40,000 expert diamond-cutters and setters from Domjur, Makardah, Thakurdaha and Dafarpur, in Howrah, and Nanna, Chanditala, Mashat, Bhagabatipur and Kumirmara, in Hooghly, work in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Dubai.

By draft estimates, the Bypass complex is expected to provide direct and indirect employment to about 50,000 people. The government sees it as a “dream project”, as it has massive export and employment potential.

Newly-elected CPM MP from Calcutta Northwest Sudhangshu Sil has taken a major initiative in roping in Bengali diamond-cutters and setters in Jhaveri Bazaar, including prominent ones like Subrata Das, Pratul Das and representatives of Sashadhar Das and Co.

“Some of the cutters and setters contacted me before the Lok Sabha elections. They told me the working conditions in Mumbai are not as good as they used to be earlier for political reasons. They insisted that an exclusive diamond complex be set up in Calcutta, where they could invest and set up shop,” said Sil.

The government will provide about three acres, off Science City, close to Manikanchan, the proposed gold jewellery complex.