Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi’s dream to see his Lok Sabha constituency Amethi emerge as a major food processing hub in the area may not be realised as NDA government has cancelled the mega food park project in Amethi.
When contacted, a senior Food Processing Ministry official said that the company, to which the project was allocated, did not fulfil certain conditions even after extension of deadline.
“The project was cancelled as Shaktiman Food Park Ltd was not able to fulfil certain conditions including possession of land within six months of the date of allocation.”
The official also said that Shaktiman Food Park has informed the ministry that the project is unviable if gas at subsidised rate is not provided for the captive power plant, for which he added there was no provision under the policies for food park.
The Rs 200-crore project was inaugurated in October 2013 by Gandhi, Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla and former Union minister for food processing industries, Charan Das Mahant.
It was the first such project in Uttar Pradesh which was to be set up by Aditya Birla Nuvo Limited in Jagdishpur, Amethi.
“The central government has cancelled the food park project in Amethi which aimed at providing employment to some 40 thousand people,” Rahul Gandhi’s representative looking after the development of Amethi, Maan Singh said.