To promote maize processing to help farmers diversify from the wheat-paddy cycle, Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Badal on Tuesday asked Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to instruct State authorities to grant necessary approvals to the mega food park which is to come up in Kapurthala district.
“Delays in grant of approvals by various State departments has delayed start of the project which is to be completed within 30 months of being approved by the Ministry,” Harsimrat said in a letter to the Chief Minister.
The project was approved by the central ministry in November last year, she said, adding that in case concerned authorities did not expedite the necessary clearances, the Food Ministry would be constrained to initiate action for cancellation of the project.
She said that M/s Sukhjit Mega Food-Park at Rehana Jattan village in Kapurthala was proposed to be set up with an investment of Rs 105 crore. “The project included a maize processing anchor unit and is likely to attract other maize processing units also. This will act as an impetus to farmers to grow maize on a large scale in the district and will help them to diversify besides improving the water table in the area,” she asserted.
Harsimrat said that due to sustained efforts of the Food Processing Ministry, the Central Ground Water Authority had granted exemption to Food Parks or agro-based industries, including the mega food park, from application of notifications regarding ground water extraction.
During a recent review of the progress of implementation of the mega good park project, it was informed that the unit was held up for want of grant of statutory clearances by the concerned State authorities, including consent to establish by the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) and Punjab Bureau of Investment Promotion, she pointed.
Exemption by Punjab Apartment and Property Regulation Act, 1995, (PAPRA) as well as approval of lay out and zoning plan by the chief town planner, Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) is also pending, she added.
Stating that mega parks were infrastructure projects which were capital intensive and had far reaching socio-economic impact in and around the area of their location, Harsimrat said that all efforts should be made not to lose such a prestigious project.