Barely six years after the opening of the country’s first mega food park, Baba Ramdev is all set to open a food park in terror-ravaged Jammu and Kashmir along with seven others in other States in a year. Informing this, Acharya Bal Krishna said that it would employ thousands of youths and farmers of the sensitive border State grappling with the menace of terrorism directly or indirectly. On Wednesday a detailed project report of the seventh food park in Jammu and Kashmir was submitted to the officials of State Industry Development Corporation (SIDCO) at Patanjali Yog Peeth by. This food park would be opened in Samba district with an investment of Rs500 crores, say the Patanjali founders.
Speaking to The Pioneer, Acharya Bal Krishna said, “We are opening eight new mega food parks along with tens of smaller semi-processing units along with laghu Kutir Udyog (small cottage industries) in this year. Today detailed project report was submitted to MD of Jammu and Kashmir-based SIDCO Amit Sharma.” In the first phase, Patanjali is mulling over opening food parks in Nagpur, Indore, Gauhati, one in Jammu and Kashmir, two each in Bhopal and Uttar Pradesh by March 2017.”
Discussing the philosophy behind starting the small scale industries, Balkrishna said, “We want that the benefit of any industry must reach the last man in a village. This would help GDP to rise as well. Thousands of youths from Jammu and Kashmir would be benefitted by opening the food processing units and lakhs of farmers will be indirectly benefitted.”