No electricity, state mega food park idle
TUSSLE Power dept says sub-station will be provided if the park authority supply electricity to locals; investors confused
RANCHI: Inaugurated in February, Jharkhand’s first mega food park (MFP) worth `114 crore is lying idle in absence of electricity, leading to confusion among investors and holding up 4,500tonne capacity cold storage.
“Despite several correspondence to the department, the handover of the sub-station is pending. Officials are not giving any response in this regard,” said Jharkhand Mega Food Park Ltd (JMFPL) director, Ali Reza Thaver.
Chief minister Raghubar Das, during the Jharkhand momentum programme in New Delhi on August 4, claimed the state was not facing any case of industrial dispute or problem since his government came to power.
The ambitious mega food park was conceptualised around seven years ago.
Then Jharkhand governor Syed Sibtey Razi former Union minister Subodh Kant Sahai and Baba Ramdev had laid foundation stone for the project in February 2009 in Ranchi’s Getalsud area.
A public-private-partnership project with the Union ministry of food processing industries was established on 56 acres of land. The JMFPPL was formed as a special purpose vehicle to execute the mega project and develop common facilities — power sub-station, cold storage, ware house, packaging unit, canteen, common effluent treatment plant.
But the project got stuck for years in bureaucratic hurdles and the infrastructure development work intensified only during the BJP government.
Around 33 food processing units have proposed to set up plants in the food park and seven companies have signed agreements. The special purpose vehicle has begun the process of allotting land to them.
“Getalsud is declared as notified industrial area. It is clearly mentioned in the detailed project report that the state government will provide electricity and road infrastructure for the project. But, electricity was not provided,” Thaver said.
“We laid electricity wire from Sikadari to Getalsud (8.5km) and set up power sub-station on our own cost. Now, electricity department is not ready to take responsibility of operation for the sub-station,” he said.
Superintendent engineer of electrical supply (Ranchi circle), Ajeet Kumar, said, “The sub-station has been set up within the boundary of the food park and it is dedicated only for the park. Therefore, it is not commercial viable to operate the sub-station, as its operational cost will come around `1.5 lakh per month.”
He said they could take handover of the sub-station if the park authority permits to provide supply to local consumers in nearby villages.