Punjab, Haryana get mega food parks

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 24

Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal today sanctioned 17 new mega food parks in 11 states, including two each for Punjab and Haryana, taking the total number of such projects across the country to now 42.

Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal said that the new parks were likely to attract an investment of around Rs 2,000 crore in modern infrastructure, additional collective investment of around Rs 4,000 crore in 500 food processing units in the parks and will have an annual turn-over of Rs 8,000 crore.

The parks, when fully functional, will create employment for about 80,000 persons and benefit about 5 lakh farmers directly and indirectly, she added. Haryana’s sanctioned projects include state-owned Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited costing Rs 164.33 crore at Panipat and a private venture — Continental Warehousing Corporation (NhavaSeva) Limited — at the cost of Rs 157.46 crore at Panipat.

The Punjab projects are state-owned Punjab Agro Industries Corporation Ltd at Ludhiana at the cost of Rs 136 crore and a private venture Sukhjit Starch & Chemical Limited, costing Rs 128.28 crore at Kapurthala. Punjab already has a food park operational at Fazilka.

The minister said the food parks were an essential part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ plan.

“They will go a long way in boosting agrarian economy of the region and generating job opportunities. This will create huge modern infrastructure for food processing sector and provide impetus to the growth of the sector. “The aim is to give a major boost to the food processing sector by adding value and reducing food wastage and loss at each stage of the supply chain with particular focus on perishables,” she said.

Financial assistance up to Rs 50 crore is provided for setting up mega food parks for creation of modern infrastructure facilities for food processing along the value chain from farm to market.

A mega food park is located in the minimum of 50 acres.

Infrastructure is created for primary processing and storage near the farm in the form of Primary Processing Centres (PPCs) and Collection Centres (CCs) located in production areas. It has common facilities and enabling infrastructure at Central Processing Centre like modern warehousing, cold storage, sorting, grading, packaging, pulping, ripening chambers and tetra packaging units, etc.

“This helps in reducing the cost of individual units significantly and makes them more viable. Induction of the latest technology, quality assurance of processed food products through better process control and meeting of environmental and safety standards are other major benefits of Mega Food Parks,” says Harsimrat Kaur

A total of 42 mega food parks have been sanctioned by the government for setting up in the country. Currently, 25 projects are under implementation. Expression of Interest (EoI) for the new projects was invited from across the India on February 2, 2014.