Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal today inaugurated the second mega food park in Maharashtra. Promoted by Paithan Mega Food Park, the Park is located in Wahegaon and Dhangaon village in Paithan Taluka of Aurangabad district. A 3rd mega food park has been sanctioned by the ministry in Maharashtra and is under development in Wardha district while the first Park was inaugurated on March 1, 2018 in Satara district.
The Paithan Mega Food Park has been set up in 102 acre of land at a cost of Rs. 124.52 crore. The facilities created by the developer at central processing centre (CPC) of this mega food park include dry warehouse of 10,000 MT, cold storage of 1,000 MT, pre-cooling facility of 10 MT, ripening chambers of 400 MT, individual quick freezing (IQF) facility of 1.5 MTPH, freezer room of 1,000 MT, 5 MTPH juice line with 1.5 MTPH of aseptic packaging line, steam sterilisation and generation unit of 4 MTPH, food testing lab, reefer vans of 30 MT and milk tankers of 50 MT, milk processing facility of 1,00,000 LPD with bulk milk chilling of 20,000 liter and other food processing facilities. The Park also has a common administrative building for office and other uses by the entrepreneurs and three primary processing centre (PPCs) at Paithan, Alephata and Kannad having facilities for primary processing and storage near the farms.This mega food park is expected to benefit the people of Aurangabad district as well as nearby districts of Nasik, Dhule, Jalgaon, Buldhana, Jalna, Beed and Ahmednagar.
Inaugurating the mega food park, Badal said that the mega food park would leverage an additional investment of about Rs. 250 crore in 25-30 food processing units in the park and would eventually lead to a turnover of about Rs. 450-500 crore annually. The park would also provide direct and indirect employment to 5,000 persons and benefit about 25,000 farmers in the CPC and PPC catchment areas.
The minister added that the modern infrastructure for food processing created at the park would benefit the farmers, growers, processors and consumers of Maharashtra and adjoining areas immensely and prove to be a big boost to the growth of the food processing sector in the state.
Badal also said, “The government is fully committed to provide an environment that is smooth, transparent and easy for investors wanting to start an enterprise in India and in a bid to make India a resilient food economy and the food factory of the world. The government has made food processing a major thrust area of Make in India.”