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CM delaying food park on purpose: Harsimrat
The project has been moving at a snail’s pace since it was sanctioned in 2015 because of the lackadaisical attitude of the Punjab government, says Union minister.
Union minister for food processing industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Monday blamed the state government for the slow progress of food park projects in the state.
Harsimrat was speaking at the inauguration of two food processing units set up by Iscon Balaji Foods and Godrej Tyson Food Limited at Gur Kirpa Mega Food Park in Laddowal. She said, “The project has been moving at a snail’s pace since it was sanctioned in 2015 because of the lackadaisical attitude of the Punjab government.”
“It seems that I will inaugurate the food park in 2022 after the Akalis resume power in the state. What happened in the case of AIIMS, Bathinda, is being seen again in case of the ₹117-crore food park, for which the ministry of food processing had sanctioned a grant of ₹50 crore,” she said.
“We brought three mega food parks to the state. While the park at Fazilka has been inaugurated, the ones in Kapurthala and Laddowal in Ludhiana are still suffering,” she said.
“I have repeatedly written to chief minister Amarinder Singh, but to no avail. He has been deliberately delaying the completion of the ₹118-crore mega food park project for the last three years,” Harsimrat said, adding that the CM deserved an ‘Idle CM’ award as opposed to an ‘Ideal CM’ award as he had done nothing for the state and its people.
Harsimrat said the Punjab Agro Industries Corporation Limited (PAIC) was not showing any initiative to stick to
schedules, which was detrimental to farmers, unemployed youth and industries. The park was slated to be completed in May 2018, she said.
Badal said the food processing units that she inaugurated will benefit the people of Ludhiana and surrounding districts of Jalandhar, Moga, Amritsar and Fatehgarh Sahib. “The units cost ₹95 crore, of which the ministry of food processing industries granted ₹5 crore to each. The units will run at a capacity of 7,200MT per annum for potato processing and 5,700 MT per annum for frozen ready-to-eat and cooked products,” she said.
She said her ministry was doing its best to generate employment: “Once all 42 mega food parks (that will cost ₹1,200 crore) are ready they will give employment to 50,000 people. These are actual figures unlike the claims of providing 11 lakh jobs made by Captain Amarinder Singh in Delhi recently,”
she said.
The mega food park is expected to provide direct and indirect employment to around 6,000 people and benefit around 40,000 farmers of the surrounding areas.
Once complete, the fully operational park will boast of facilities such as 500 kg/spiral freezer, 1,000 tonne cold store for onion and garlic, 1,000 tonne frozen cold store for vegetables, 10,000 tonne dry warehouse, 10,000 tonne silos, 100 tonne ripening chamber (ECRC), 1 MT/Hr dehydration line (air dried), 400 MT cold storage, reefer vans, food incubation centre and testing labs.
Harsimrat said the deliberate delay was affecting thousands of youth who had been promised “ghar ghar naukari”, besides 1.5-lakh farmers who would benefit from the project.
‘DGP’s remarks on Kartarpur sacrilegious’
Reacting to director general
of police’s recent remarks on Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan, Harsimrat said they were tantamount to sacrilege.
She said, “Captain Amarinder Singh’s handpicked officer had tried to defame the holy shrine where the first Sikh master Guru Nanak Dev spent 18 years of his life.”
She asked the CM to sack the officer immediately for hurting the religious sentiments of the Sikh community: “The statement was part of a well-planned strategy of the anti-Sikh Gandhi-family ruled Congress party to get the Kartapur Sahib corridor shut down.
