Updated: Yogi calls Baba Ramdev after Patanjali threatens to shift food park out of UP

A day after Patanjali Ayurved Ltd announced that it was shifting the proposed Patanjali Food and Herbal Park from Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath swung into action. Adityanath reportedly spoke to Baba Ramdev, who assured him that Patanjali Ayurved Limited Food Park wouldn’t be shifted outside the state. Yogi has promised Ramdev to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

“CM talked to Baba Ramdev yesterday. Land allotted was under name of Patanjali Ayurveda but later they wanted it under Patanjali Foods. There is no need to sign another MoU. It'll be brought before cabinet,” said Satish Mahana, UP Minister on Patanjali's Mega Food Park.

The Economic Times reported that the Prime Minister’s Office had also intervened in the Patanjali food park controversy and had asked the UP government to resolve the issue.

On June 5, Patanjali Ayurvedic Limited had announced that it had decided to shift its ₹6,000 crore mega food park project out of Uttar Pradesh, citing the indifference of the state government, giving a big jolt to CM Yogi’s ambitious industrialisation plan.

The announcement by Acharya Balkrishra, Managing Director of Patanjali Ayurved Limited, came a couple of days after BJP national president Amit Shah met yoga guru Baba Ramdev in New Delhi on June 4 to seek his support for the party, and their smiling pictures were released for media. By Tuesday night, the bonhomie seemed to have evaporated as Balkrishna, close associate of Patanjali co-founder Ramdev, tweeted a declaration that Patanjali will shift its planned food park out of Uttar Pradesh. In his tweet, Balkrishna said: “Today I was informed that the central government-sanctioned mega food park project has been cancelled. Failed to bring prosperity in the land of Lord Ram and Krishna because of the apathy of the state government.”

In another tweet, Balkrishna had showcased the model of the proposed project and wrote “… This is the model of the proposed institution in Noida. This would have given jobs to thousands of farmers and brought prosperity in the lives of farmers.”

These two tweets had taken the wind out of CM Yogi’s claim that Uttar Pradesh is the most cherished investment destination and that the state government is ready to solve farmers’ problems. To salvage the situation, Yogi spoke to Baba Ramdev and assured all help. He even said that all problems will be sorted out.

Infrastructure Development Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey told this reporter that UP Government has not cancelled any land for Patanjali. “Process is on to transfer land and as this requires cabinet approval, it has been delayed. There is no question of not providing land,” he said.

Sources say that of late bad blood has developed between Ramdev and Yogi. Recently, the two had met in Haridwar, Uttarakhand when Yogi had gone there to lay the foundation stone of a UP Government project, which includes construction of a hotel. It is reported that Baba Ramdev was not given a seat in the dais along with the chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, following which he walked out of the function mid-way. BJP leaders claim that Ramdev left mid-way as he had a prior engagement. The media is looking at it differently, claimed one of them.

The MoU between Patanjali and the state government was inked during Akhilesh Yadav’s tenure, when the then government gave 455 acres of land in Greater Noida which included 430 acres for industrial use and 25 acres for institutional use.

JP Meena, secretary at the central government’s food processing industry department had issued notice to the UP government as well as to Patanjali to complete formalities. “The project has not been called off. Patanjali has one month’s time to complete formality, failing which the project will be rejected,” said Meena.

With IANS inputs.

*This article, previously entitled ‘Patanjali Ayurved to shift food park out of UP, citing Yogi Govt’s apathy’, was updated at 1.47 pm on June 6, 2018 to add the update on Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s outreach to Baba Ramdev

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