Managing Director of Patanjali Ayurved Ltd and co-founder of Patanjali Yogpeeth, Acharya Balkrishna on Wednesday lashed out against the Uttar Pradesh government's disappointing attitude that led Patanjali to shift its planned food park from the state.
His statement comes after the Uttar Pradesh government denied permission to Patanjali Ayurved Ltd for its proposed Rs 6,000-crore mega food processing project along the Yamuna Expressway.
"Patanjali had to shift its planned food park from Uttar Pradesh due to state government's disappointing attitude; lives of farmers could not be improved," said Balkrishna.
"The Mega Food Park was coming up to make lives of farmers, better. We had also asked for permission from the central government. There are paper works for which we requested the state government. But due to their disappointing attitude, it couldn't be done," he added.
On Tuesday, Balkrishna took to his Twitter handle and informed that they have to shift the food park due to state government's disappointing attitude. He further said their initiative to improve the lives of farmers in the region would not be achieved after this decision.
The Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) could not get the required clearances for transfer of land from the state government, said a top company official.
The Hairdwar-based company had proposed to invest up to Rs 6,000 crore to set up a plant in 425 acres of land at YEIDA to cater the domestic and export markets through its step-down firm Patanjali Food & Herbal Park. The company now plans to shift the project to some other state, he said without disclosing further details.
However, the UP government said it has given one more month to Patanjali to meet the conditions required to get the final approval.
Patanjali was given one-month extension by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries till end of June to get the requisite clearances to start the project.
When contacted Food Processing Secretary J.P. Meena said, " Patanjali was given four months time to meet the conditions required to get the final approval. There are four to five conditions, including land and bank loans, which any party that wants to set up mega food park has to fulfil." Meena added, "We have not cancelled the project. We have given one month extension to Patanjali... they have to meet the condition. In case, Patanjali does not meet the condition, we have no choice but to cancel. We have done it earlier in many projects."
Patanjali had already got support from the financial institutions for the project, Balkrishna claimed.
"We got extensions two times from the Ministry of Food Processing Industries and now it (time) is lapsing as we could not get the required clearances from the state government," Balakrishna said.
Mega food parks are to be implemented within 30 months and financial assistance is provided to them by the central government.
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 Nagpur (MP) and Tejpur (Assam).
Around 455 acres of land was allocated for the Patanjali Food and Herbal Park in Greater Noida.
In 2016, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav had laid the foundation of the park.