Patanjali mega food park: UP govt seeks 15 days more time from Centre

The UP government has written to the Centre requesting that Patanjali Ayurved should be given 15 days more time to comply with the conditions required for the proposed Rs 6,000-crore mega food park along the Yamuna Expressway. The leading FMCG firm has been given June 15 deadline by the Union Food Processing Ministry to meet the conditions required to get the final approval for setting up of the proposed park.

In a letter written to the Centre, the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government has requested it to extend the said deadline to June 30.

"It is requested to extend the time given by the inter-ministerial approval committee (of the Food Processing Ministry) from June 15 to June 30 to meet the conditions required to get the final approval," Uttar Pradesh Infrastructure and Industrial Development Department Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey said in the letter.

The conditions that were to be complied with include transfer of land in the name of Patanjali Ayurved's subsidiary Patanajali Food and Herbal Park Noida Pvt Ltd.

Patanjali spokesperson S K Tijarawala said: "We are confident and express our pleasure over the sincere steps taken by the UP chief minister. As the Union Food Processing Ministry is very cooperative, we are hopeful that 15 days extension would be granted so that the state government completes its formalities."

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 June 6, Patanjali had said that its mega food park would produce goods worth Rs 25,000 crore annually on full capacity running. It is envisaged to create 10,000 direct jobs.

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