Fadnavis, Gadkari lay foundation stone of Patanjali Food Park

Nagpur, Sep 10 (PTI) The foundation stone of PatanjaliMega Food and Herbal Park, promoted by yoga guru Ramdev, waslaid in Mihan area here today by Maharashtra Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis and Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari. Spread over 230 acres, the food park will havePatanjali’s production units and provide direct employment to10,000 youths, Ramdev said. The Patanjali group will give soft loans to farmers inthe area for producing various agro products, he said. The food park will bring prosperity to the farmers of theregion which is infamous for number of suicides, said Ramdev’sassociate Acharya Balkrishna. Gadkari in his speech assured all necessary help to thePatanjali group, saying their products will get internationalmarket soon due to the connectivity in the area. The upcomingdry port in nearby Wardha would help in this regard, he said. Gadkari also said the state Forest Minister SudhirMungantiwar and Union MoS for Home, Hansraj Ahir, had assuredhelp in procurement of medicinal herbs from nearby Chandrapurand Gadchiroli forests. Fadnavis said Patanjali, which was the sole bidder, hadsuccessfully bid when global tenders were floated for settingup the food park at Mihan. The whole process was transparent and Patanjali group gotthe land or Rs 25 lakh per acre, he said. He invited proposalsfor setting up units in the remaining 270 acres of the total500 acres, earmarked for food park. Other states offered Patanjali free land but it preferredNagpur, the CM said, adding that it would be the world’slargest food park. Former Congress MP Vilas Muttemwar had alleged here lastevening that Patanjali was given the land at a throwaway pricewhen the market price was Rs 60 lakh per acre. Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) earlierhad floated two global tenders (in May and July 2016), butfailed to get any bidder. In the third call, MADC has received Patanjali Ayurved asthe technically qualified bidder, the state-run agency hadsaid last month. PTI JOE KRK SASNK