Govt hits out at Rahul over Food Park

The Narendra Modi government on Monday hit back at Rahul Gandhi terming his claims on the Amethi Food Park as a “mega lie” only to mislead farmers of the region.

Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal cited communication between the government and the promoters of the mega food park at Jagdishpur in Amethi suggesting that the UPA government had offered “unique advantage” of cheap gas for the project to make it possible.

“None of the 42 mega food parks (sanctioned during the UPA regime) were given this unique advantage. No other food park was granted the number of extensions that were granted to the Amethi project,” Badal told reporters here. Badal’s fresh offensive against Rahul came on a day when the Congress vice-president was visiting his Lok Sabha constituency Amethi. Rahul said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was indulging in politics of revenge by cancelling the food park project.

In Delhi, Badal said the decision not to grant any further extension to the Shaktiman Mega Food Park in Amethi was taken in March 2014 by the UPA government itself and the NDA regime merely implemented that decision on June 30 last year. The minister said a closer look at the project proposals for the food park showed the promoters were planning to earn bulk of the revenue through sale of power generated using supply of cheap gas.

The promoters pulled out of the project in 2012-13 when petroleum ministry under the UPA government rejected their request for supply of cheap power to the captive power plant planned as part of the food park.

“Rahul Gandhi wanted to give the unique advantage of subsidised gas to the food park, but the same was rejected by the petroleum ministry during the UPA rule itself,” Badal said wondering whether the Congress scion “was sleeping all through”.

Rejecting Congress claims that Rahul had inaugurated the project in October 2013, she said “not a pit was dug not a brick laid. Only the foundation stone was laid hurriedly a few months before the elections to mislead the farmers”.

Badal had also responded to the charges levelled by Rahul in Parliament earlier this month. “It took Rahul Gandhi 10 months to realise that the Food Park project has been cancelled. He did nothing when he enjoyed all the powers. What is he talking about now,” the minister asked pointing out that the fate of the park was sealed on 2012 when the UPA government denied supply of cheap gas for the captive power plant.