Government Milk Scheme to be upgraded

Maharashtra to get 15,500 km new national highways

NAGPUR: Yoga guru Ramdev Baba’s Patanjali Yogpeeth has decided to set up four units in Vidarbha. These units will be set up in Mihan , Amravati, Katol and Gadchiroli.Addressing a press conference on Friday, Union minister for road transport, highways and shipping Nitin Gadkari said that Maharashtra government has decided to provide 347 acre land in Mihan to Patanjali for setting up a food processing unit. “Some 108 acre of this land will be in the special economic zone (SEZ) and the remaining 239 acre outside it. The unit will generate employment for over 10,000 locals,” he said.“Also, 200 acre land in Katol MIDC will be given to Patanjali for an orange processing unit. The land will be handed over within a month and the government will also provide the required infrastructure there. Land will be provided in Amravati too for a food park,” Gadkari added.The minister said that there was a lot of scope for setting up medicinal herbs unit in Gadchiroli. “Of the 300 or so herbs, 200 can be grown in Gadchiroli and Chandrapur districts. Patanjali will set up a unit to manufacture herbal medicines in Gadchiroli. It will also train tribals to grow these herbs,” he further said adding that Patanjali was also thinking of setting up a milk product unit in the region but it is in conceptual stage.Acharya Balkrishna of the Yogpeeth said that his organization has decided to focus on Vidarbha because the farmers of the region were facing a major agrarian crisis.Gadkari also said that his ministry has decided to construct a bypass for Mozari, where Sant Tukdoji Maharaj’s memorial is situated. The locals were against widening of the existing national highway along which the memorial is located. The government will also construct cement roads in the village.Gadkari further said his ministry intends to create amenities centres along the national highways wherever 50 to 60 acre state land was available. Transport hubs would be created along all bypass roads so that heavy traffic can be routed from outside the cities.In another major development, the government has decided to upgrade Nagpur’s Government Milk Scheme with the help of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and develop it as a mother dairy. Land will be provided to NDDB at nominal rates.Meanwhile, Gadkari also announced that the national highway network in the state will be expanded by adding 15,500 km new roads. At present, the length of national highways in Maharashtra is about 7,000 km and the figure will reach 22,500 km after these highways are built. He said that ministry has an allocation of Rs2.5 lakh crore and hence funds would not be a problem.