Patanjali Ayurved Limited will be pumping in over Rs 300 crore for the food park project at Nagpur from its own sources as getting funds through bank finance has been delayed.
Acharya Balkrishna, managing director of Patanjali Ayurved, said, “The initial Rs300 to Rs400 crore that may be needed for the project at Nagpur would be pumped in by the company. We can hope that the production may start by December end.”
Patanjali Food and Herbal Park Nagpur Private Limited, a company under Patanjali Group, has taken up 232 acres land in the non-SEZ part of Mihan through an auction. The ground-breaking ceremony was held in 2017 but the project could not start within the announced time. Yoga guru Baba Ramdev had declared to start the production soon after the ceremony. However, the work was delayed due to fund crisis and other reasons.
Deepak Kapoor, managing director of Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) which is developing Mihan project, had visited the site. He had directed the company’s officials that production should start by December 2021. Balkrishna told TOI that even as the company is trying to start the plant by the deadline, even the MADC should do its part. Patanjali had already secured an extended deadline upto December 21 this year.
Balkrishna said a road connecting Patanjali’s land in Mihan is yet to be constructed. According to him, the construction material can reach the site only after a long detour of 20km from Hingna side. He said a shorter road connecting the plant side from Sumthana village has not been built yet. “Though access to the land is from the SEZ side, the material cannot be moved from there as per rules. Even the power connection required for an indudstiral unit has not been provided,” he said.
A senior MADC official in-charge of infrastructure work said there are two roads reaching the side. “Both come till the outer ring road from where Mihan can be reached. Work on the Sumthana road mentioned by Acharya Balkrishna is not directly related to the project,” said the official.
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