Amid COVID9 pandemic, there is good news for the people of Meghalaya — a Rs 65.29 crore Mega Food Park has been approved.
Sources in the Ministry of Food Processing told Northeast Now that the Mega Food Park project for Meghalaya has been approved by the Inter-Ministerial Approval Committee (IMAC).
Of the Rs 65.26 crore Mega Food Park project, the Ministry of Food Processing would extend a grant of Rs 48.43 crore, and the remaining amount will be mobilized by the state government.
The Inter-Ministerial Approval Committee (IMAC) meeting which gave the green signal to the Meghalaya Mega Food Park project on Tuesday, was chaired by the union Food Processing minister Narendra Singh Tomar.
Rameswar Teli, union minister of state for Food Processing Ministry on December 6 last year had announced about the proposal of setting up a Mega Food Park in Meghalaya while he was speaking at the North East Food Innovation Exhibition.
The IMAC’s approval has now taken the dream of setting up of the Mega Food Park in Meghalaya one step forward.
The Food Processing Ministry has an annual budget of Rs 8,000 crore, of which, 10 per cent is mandatory for utilisation in the eight northeast states.
Under the Mega Food Park project, the Ministry of Food processing would extend about 75 per cent subsidy, and the remaining 25 per cent amount will be borne by the Meghalaya government.
Teli had announced that for the year 2020, the Ministry of Food Processing has a budget of Rs 1,100 crore for the northeastern region, and he was trying to set up Food Parks in all the eight states.
In addition to Meghalaya, Food Parks are also being set up in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim.
The Ministry of Food Processing has already sanctioned money for setting up of the Mega Food Park in Arunachal Pradesh.
Euphoric with the approval, Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K. Sangma also tweeted to announce the good news to the people of the state.
A Mega Food Park Project worth ?65.29Cr was in principle approved for #Meghalaya by the Inter-Ministerial Approval Committee. This will go a long way in taking the food processing sector forward in our State. Thank Hon’ble PM @narendramodi Ji & Hon’ble Union Minister @nstomar Ji pic.twitter.com/XwaG1Nkvmk
— Conrad Sangma (@SangmaConrad) November 24, 2020
Sangma thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and union Food Processing minister Narendra Singh Tomar for the IMAC approval for setting up of the Mega Food Park in Meghalaya.
The Ministry of Food Processing is also planning to set up an institute like IIT in Guwahati, for food related researches.
As there is high demand for food products of Northeastern states such as Bhot Jalakiya (king chilli) and black rice, there is huge business potential for the food industry in this region.