Ramdev Has His Way as UP Cabinet Gives Green Signal to Patanjali Proposal to Transfer Project Land

Lucknow: After pressure from the Patanjali Group to shift land for its Food Park out of the state, the Uttar Pradesh government has agreed to allow the group to transfer as much land as it wants to its subsidiary company in Greater Noida.

The cabinet, which met on Tuesday, has also decided to add the name of Patanjali Ayurveda to the allotted land, while keeping the other terms and conditions the same.

Speaking to the media, cabinet minister and spokesperson of UP government Sidharth Nath Singh said, “The decision on allowing Patanjali Ayurveda Pvt Ltd to shift its land to its subsidiary in Greater Noida was taken in today’s cabinet. Also, the cabinet has decided to add the name of Patanjali Ayurveda to the allotted land. Rest all the terms and conditions remain unchanged.”

Earlier, the permission to shift land was withheld as the infrastructure and industrial development policy of 2012 did not allow for land to be subleased. Around 455 acres of land had been allocated to Patanjali along the Yamuna Expressway in 2016 under this policy.

The Centre had threatened to cancel the project if Patanjali was unable to secure a no-objection certificate from the UP government and extended its deadline to June 30, 2018, after the state pleaded on Patanjali’s behalf.

The Patanjali Group locked horns with the UP government over the issue as it wanted to transfer 91 acres of this land to its subsidiary, Patanjali Food and Herbal Park Noida Pvt Ltd, for setting up a mega food park. Earlier this month on June 5, Patanjali had threatened to pull out of the project from Uttar Pradesh.

A day after the group threatened to cancel the project, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath intervened in the matter and called up Ramdev. He also spoke to CEO of Patanjali Group, Acharya Balakrishna, and assured him of all possible help.

The UP cabinet also decided to constitute the Shri Kashi Vishwanath Special Area Development Board, which will undertake the beautification of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple area with a budget of approximately Rs 413 crore, apart from giving the nod to the proposal for the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor.