Union minister defers opening mega food park at Khagaria

KHAGARIA: Union food processing industries minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal has said the ‘Pristine Mega Food Park’, the first of its kind in Bihar, has added a new chapter to the state's industrial growth and shall bring about major changes in the economic scenario of the Kosi belt.
“The project, executed at a cost of Rs 127 crore at Mansi, 180km from the state capital, will help generate employment opportunities for at least 5,000 people of the area and benefit about 25,000 farmers,” the minister said.
The minister was at Mansi to inaugurate the food park. She, however, did not inaugurate it formally due to poor infrastructure development. Expressing displeasure over the non-functioning of even a single production unit, she asked Pristine promoter-cum-director Rajnish Kumar to make it functional within a fortnight.
Kumar assured the minister that the deficiencies would be removed soon.
Attacking the previous UPA government for its apathy towards opening food parks, the minister said the UPA could complete only two mega food parks across the country during its 10-year rule, while the NDA government ensured opening of three such parks and also laid stones of 17 others across the country.
She thanked the state government for its cooperation in providing land and other assistance. Terming the food park as an example of Centre-state cooperation, she said any mega project could not be started without the active cooperation of all the stakeholders.
The 70 acres of land, on which the mega agro-based project has been developed, has been leased out to the Pristine by the Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority. Minister of state for railways Manoj Sinha had laid the stone of the railway-linked logistics park on August 6, 2015.
However, it lacks development of common infrastructure, cold storages, individual quick freezing units, testing labs and private freight terminal.
Union minister of state for food processing industries Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, LJP MP Mehboob Ali Kaiser, BAU-Sabour VC Dr Ajoy Kumar Singh and Khagaria Zila Parishad chairperson Sweta Bharti also attended the event.