Harsimrat Badal opens Vibrant North East 2016 Summit in Guwahati

Badal said Northeastern states are rich in resources and the NDA government is committed to addressing the issue of development of the region

Union Minister of Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal inaugurated the Vibrant North-East 2016 Summit and Exhibition in Guwahati on Thursday.

Addressing the participants at the summit, Badal said Northeastern states are rich in resources and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government is committed to addressing the issue of development of the region.

She said wholesome development of the Northeast would include linking farmers with modern technology driven agricultural practices and also to accelerate the pace of developmental projects.

Badal said the northeastern region holds lot of potential for food processing as the weather and adequate availability of water are conducive to food cultivation and suitable for growing large variety of fruits and vegetables.

Badal informed that the ministry of food processing industries is pursuing various development-related schemes such as establishing three mega food parks, five cold chain projects, eight abattoirs and development of six food-testing laboratories.

She said the food parks would come up in Assam, Mizoram and Tripura. The cold chain projects would come up in Assam, Manipur and Mizoram which have a capacity of 11,500 metric tonnes of cold storage. The abattoirs would come up in Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim, while the food-testing laboratories would be set up in Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura to ensure food safety and quality testing.

The minister informed that the ministry has taken up the issue of allowing 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail for such food produced by the Indian farmers and food products that are manufactured in India.

She also said that consultations with the stakeholders are being done on this issue. She informed this would be a revolutionary step towards modernisation of old kirana into modern food retail and providing fair remuneration to farmers.

Badal urged entrepreneurs to come forward to set up food processing industries in the Northeast and make use of financial assistance provided by the government which will usher in a new era of higher income to farmers, employment generation to the youth of this region as well as help in creating necessary infrastructure.