Mega food park to be set up in Ludhiana for Rs 117 crore

Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Monday laid the foundation stone of a mega food park project in Ludhiana to be developed at a cost of Rs 117.61 crore.

This mega food park is expected to provide direct and indirect employment to about 6,000 people and benefit about 25,000-30,000 farmers in its catchment area.

"Badal laid the foundation stone of the Ludhiana Mega Food Park being promoted by Punjab Agro," an official statement said.

Badal said this mega food park will be set up with the project cost of Rs 117.61 crore in an area of 100.20 acres.

The park will have facilities of 500 kg/spiral freezer, 1000 tonne cold store of onion & garlic, 1000 tonne frozen cold store of vegetable produce, 10000 tonne dry warehouse, 10000 tonne silos, 100 tonne ripening chamber (ECRC), 1 MT/Hr Dehydration Line (Air dried), 400 MT Cold storage, reefer vans, food incubation center and testing labs.

This mega Food park has a Central Processing Centre (CPC) at Ludhiana and four Primary Processing Centres (PPCs) are being set up at Hoshiarpur, Amritsar, Fazilka and Bathinda to provide strong backward linkages.

The food park would benefit farmers and processors of Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib, Rupnagar, S.B.S. Nagar, Jalandhar, Moga, Sangrur and Barnala district of Punjab, Badal said.

In order to give an impetus to the growth of the food processing sector in Punjab, the ministry has approved three mega food park in the state. Out of these three parks, the first park located at Fazilka has already become operational.

The foundation stone laying of a second Mega Food Park in the state promoted by Punjab Agro Industries Corporation Ltd.

(PAIC) was done today. The third park (Sukhjit Mega Food Park) has been approved in Kapurthala district.

Food Processing ministry is focusing on boosting this sector so that agriculture sector grows exponentially and becomes the engine of growth to drive the government's 'Make in India' initiative.

The ministry has identified creation of modern infrastructure for food processing as a focus area and is encouraging private investment.

As a step in this direction, it has been implementing the Mega Food Park Scheme in the country to give a major boost to the processing sector along the value chain from the farm to the market with strong forward and backward linkages through a cluster based approach.

Badal expressed confidence that this food park project will create a modern infrastructure for arresting post-harvest losses of horticultural and non-horticultural produce.

This food Park will help in providing better prices to farmer, reduce wastage of perishables, add value to agri- produce and create huge opportunities for entrepreneurship and employment for the youth of Punjab.