Food Park: UP CM reaches out to Patanjali

Yog Guru Baba Ramdev - UP CM Yogi Adityanath
Ramdev Yogi Adityanath
Yog Guru Baba Ramdev – UP CM Yogi Adityanath

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today directed officials to expedite the process for Patanjali Ayurved to set up its Rs 6,000-crore food park, after the company said it was pulling out from the project due to non-cooperation from the state government.

“The formalities will be completed soon,” UP Infrastructure and Industrial Development Minister Satish Mahana said.

Earlier, a government spokesman clarified that the project has not been cancelled and Adityanath spoke to Acharya Balkrishna, managing director of the firm promoted by Yoga guru Baba Ramdev.

“The chief minister has talked to Acharya Balkrishna and heard his grievances. There is no cancellation yet. They have been allotted land and the project is to commence, Principal Secretary (Information) Awanish Awasthi told PTI.

He said the chief minister has directed officials to expedite the process.

Industrial Development Minister Mahana said, we will not let Patanjali go from the state. Our CM has talked to Patanjali. The formalities will be completed soon.”

He said the state government was talking about incentives as well, and there were some technical issues involved.

We are bringing a proposal in this regard to the cabinet,” the minister said.

The Haridwar-based company had proposed to invest up to Rs 6,000 crore to set up a plant spread over 425 acres along the Yamuna Expressway through its step-down firm Patanjali Food and Herbal Park.

On Tuesday, Balkrishna had told PTI: “We are cancelling the project as we did not get required clearances from the UP state government.”

The company planned to shift the project to some other state, he had said, adding, “We did not get any cooperation from the state government for this project.”

Patanjali had earlier said its new plant would produce goods worth Rs 25,000 crore annually, if it runs to its full capacity.

It would also create 10,000 direct jobs, Patanjali had said.

Patanjali is also investing in mega food park projects in Nagpur (Maharashtra) and Tezpur (Assam) as well. PTI