Patanjali is also investing in mega food park projects including in Nagpur (Maharashtra) and Tezpur (Assam). (Express Photo) Patanjali is also investing in mega food park projects including in Nagpur (Maharashtra) and Tezpur (Assam). (Express Photo)

Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved announced Tuesday it is pulling out of its proposed Rs 6,000 crore mega food processing project in Greater Noida, prompting Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to direct officials to expedite its opening.

“We are cancelling the project as we did not get required clearances from the UP state government,”Acharya Balkrishna, MD of the Baba Ramdev-promoted firm, told PTI Tuesday ,

The Modi government had given the in-principle approval for the industrial park in January.

Patanjali’s largest plant in north India

The Haridwar-based Patanjali Ayurved had proposed to invest up to Rs 6,000 crore to set up a plant spread over 455 acres of land along the Yamuna Expressway. It had said the park would cater to the domestic and export markets. The foundation stone of the project was laid by former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav in November 2016, and was proposed to be built with an initial investment of Rs 1,666.80 crore.

The park was to be the largest project set up by Patanjali after its food park in Haridwar, which is spread over 150 acres. The Haridwar food park is the only operational food park of the organisation presently, and the Noida plant was expected to boost production of various items significantly.

Earlier, Patanjali had said that its Yamuna Expressway-based plant would produce goods worth Rs 25,000 crore annually, if it ran to its full capacity and would create 10,000 direct jobs.

At the time of the launch, Baba Ramdev claimed it would process 400 tonne of fruits and vegetables in a day and 750 tonnes of organic wheat to produce flour. Of the 455 acres allocated for the park, 430 acres was meant for manufacturing units and 25 units for an institution.

Patanjali is also investing in mega food park projects in Nagpur (Maharashtra) and Tezpur (Assam). None of them are operational yet.

What is a mega food park?

The mega food park scheme is one created by the national ministry for food processing industry. As per the government’s website, the mega food projects would provide state-of-the-art infrastructure for food processing.

The Patanjali Food and Herbal park website says that each mega food park is subsidised by Rs 50 crore on the basis of milestones and progress achieved.

(With inputs from PTI)

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