Patanjali to 'shift' mega food park from Gr Noida

LUCKNOW: A controversy erupted around the proposed Rs 2000-crore mega food park of Swami Ramdev-owned Patanajali in Greater Noida when its CEO Acharya Balkrishna announced on Tuesday that the groups was moving out of the state + because of the indifferent attitude of the BJP government.
A state government spokesperson, however, said that Patanjali was seeking to split the land and was seeking 50 acre somewhere else, a request which the government had refused.

Balkrishna tweeted on Tuesday: “The proposed mega food park which also had Central government’s approval has been cancelled. The Greater Noida food park would have brought prosperity to the land of Lord Rama and Krishna. However, because of the state government's indifference, this will remain a dream. We have decided to shift to some other location.''

Proposed to come up over an area of around Rs 425 acre at an estimated cost of around Rs 2000 crore, the project entailing establishment of a food processing unit, was given the nod by the previous Akhilesh Yadav government + in 2016. Catering to the domestic and export markets through its step-down firm Patanjali Food & Herbal Park, the project was estimated to have provided direct employment to over 8,000 people, sources said.

While officials in the industry department could not be reached for comments, a government spokesperson said that the company wanted to get a section of 425 acre of land reallotted in some other part of the state, which the state government refused. “The land allotted to the company has not been cancelled as such,” the spokesperson said.

According to media reports, the Haridwar-based company was miffed after the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) could not get the required clearances for transfer of land from the state government.