Promoting Uttar Pradesh as a “market” for investment and entrepreneurial activities, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday laid the foundation for a 455-acre food park to be run by yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali group.
The Patanjali Food and Herbal Park will come up near Greater Noida under the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority.
The foundation ceremony was, however, conducted in the State capital by Mr. Yadav in the presence of Baba Ramdev and Patanjali MD Acharya Balkrishna.
The Haridwar-based Patanjali company plans to invest more than Rs. 1,666 crore in the project, which according to U.P. chief secretary Rahul Bhatnagar, would provide direct employment to 8,000 people and indirect livelihood to 80,000. Baba Ramdev said the project would be completed by the end of 2017.
The Patanjali food park will have units producing agricultural,herbal and medicinal products, dairy and animal feed. It will have the potential to process 400 tonnes of fruits and vegetables and produce 750 tonnes of organic wheat flour daily.
In May, Baba Ramdev had called upon the CM here and expressed his wish to invest in drought-hit Bundelkhand to develop it into a hub of organic products.
