Food park project: UP CM reaches out to Patanjali

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has 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.

Clarifying that the project has not been cancelled, a senior state government official today said Adityanath spoke to Acharya Balkrishna, MD of the Baba Ramdev-promoted firm.

"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 be commenced. The CM has directed to expedite the process and also directed officers for the same," Principal Secretary Information, Awanish Awasthi told PTI.

The Haridwar-based company had proposed to invest up to Rs 6,000 crore to set up a plant over 425 acres of land 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 now plans 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."

Earlier, Patanjali had said that its Yamuna Expressway-based plant would produce goods worth Rs 25,000 crore annually, if it runs to its full capacity.

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

Patanjali is presently investing in mega food park projects, including in Nagpur (Maharashtra) and Tezpur (Assam).