Amethi food park promoter failed to meet conditions: Harsimrat Badal

Countering Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's criticism of the government's cancellation of the mega food park project in his Amethi contituency, Food Processing Industries Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal said on Tuesday that the company neither possessed the minimum 50 acre of land nor permission for the project.

"The appraisal of the detailed project report revealed that the promoter company was not in possession of required minimum 50 acre of land along with permission to set up the mega food park project," Badal told the Lok Sabha in a suo moto statement.

"The promoter company, therefore, was granted extension several times to enable it to complete the pre-conditions for final approval. The last extension was granted up to March 30, 2014," she added.

The minister said that in response to a show cause notice, the promoters informed that, apart from the land issue, they have also applied to the petroleum ministry for allotment of gas at an administered price for setting up a captive power plant in the mega food park which is necessary for supply of uninterrupted power.

"The ministry of petroleum and natural gas vide their letter dated December 18, 2012 communicated that considering the acute shortage of domestic gas in the country and lowest priority accorded to captive power plant for allocation of any domestic gas, it would not be possible to allocate domestic gas for the proposed mega food park," Badal said.

At a review meeting in her ministry, "the representative of the promoter company informed that without supply of the gas to the project at administered price, the promoter company would not consider the project to be viable. In the absence of availability of gas at the administered price, the promoter company expressed its inability to pursue the project," she added.

An inter-ministerial approval committee (IMAC) considered the matter in June last year and "in view of inordinate delay by the promoter company in meeting these pre-conditions for final approval, the in-principle approval accorded to the project by the ministry was cancelled," Badal said.

The Shaktiman Food Park, the first-of-its-kind project in Uttar Pradesh, was to be set up by Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd in Jagdishpur area of Amethi.