Yoga guru Ramdev sets up mega food park in Nagpur

Mumbai: The Patanjali Mega Food and Herbal Park, promoted by Yoga guru Ramdev, was yesterday launched in the industrial hub of Nagpur and is expected to provide employment to 10,000 youths in the Vidarbha region.

Spread over 230 acres at the Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport (Mihan), Nagpur, the mega food park, said to be one of the largest in the country, will also engage 50,000 farmers of the region famous for its oranges, the ‘Nagpur santra’. The Rs10 billion (Dh54.9 million) food park will provide a source of income and revenue generation for farmers by creating a demand for conventional and non-conventional produce.

The Patanjali group will also give soft loans to farmers in the area for producing various ago products.

The foundation stone was laid by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari.

Gadkari, who took the initiative to get the Patanjali Group to invest in the region, said the park would transform Nagpur and go a long way in bringing prosperity to farmers in the region, infamous for farmers’ suicides.

It will be for the first time that juice made oranges grown in this region will be packaged as a brand. Playing an important role in the Herbal Park will be tribals in Gadchiroli, Gondia and Chandrapur, who make a living collecting forest produce such as medicinal plants and herbs and will therefore gain from this project. This is the first expansion of the existing Patanjali facility near Haridwar.

Fadnavis said the Food Park will train 2000 farmers in growing orange, aloe vera, tomato and herbs as well as in agro-processing. The company will also purchase Rs1 billion worth of produce from local farmers annually.

Fadnavis dismissed local Congress leader and seven-times MP Vilas Muttemwar’s allegation that the government has given MIHAN land to Patanjali at a throwaway price and there was no transparency. He has demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the land sale. Fadnavis said that tenders were floated three times and Patanjali Group was the only company that made a bid.