In a recent turnout of events, it has come to news that Baba Ramdev’s proposal in the expansion of his business, Patanjali has been refused by the Jammu and Kashmir government. India’s yoga guru and businessman proposed to set up a Patanjali Food and Herbal Park in the Union Territory of J&K. He proposed acquiring land to the tune of over 1,300 kanals in the area for setting up the said industrial park. The proposal moved in 2017 planning an investment of Rs. 1,007 crore in establishing the park, housing thirty different units at Meen Chakran in Bari Brahmana area of Samba district in Jammu. Though since then, it met no positive response, it was discussed twice in J&K’s Apex Project Clearance Committee [APCC]. APCC is responsible for clearing new proposals of industrial units to be set up across J&K. The PDP-BJP coalition government earlier did show a willingness to go ahead with the project and to consider it. However, in the meeting of the APCC held last month, the proposal was rejected, headed by chief secretary B.R.Subramanyam. As for the grounds of rejection, amongst others, the most pressing is the concession sought by the Patanjali group to pay the land premium for ten years, and another waiver sought to lease the rentals. Lease rentals are mandated by the industrial norms in J&K, which was calculated at Rs 32.50 lakh annually. The calculation was done based on the current rate per Kanal of land, per annum, ongoing at Rs. 3.75 lakh. Furthermore, the policy in place also envisages a hike of 10% in every two years in the amount of lease rental. The minutes of the meeting held on October 29, reads as under, as reported by The Wire
“The concessions sought by the company are outside the scope of the J&K industrial policy as land premium is always upfront and one-time payment,”
Therefore, the conditions put forth in the proposal of Patanjali was not considered resulting in dropping of the plan. As per the calculation in the next 40 years, which is the initial period of the lease, the rentals would amount to more than Rs. 52.89 crore. If a waiver is granted, as proposed by the company, the State Industrial Development Corporation (SIDCO) would incur huge loses on account of lease rentals. Moreover, the minutes of the meeting also states that the rentals are the only source of revenue generated by the Corporation. The meeting saw participation from different high-level committees, which said that an instalment based payment of the premium would render financial tightness in the Corporation since it has already spent Rs. 25 crores for the acquisition of the said land.
“If the request of the company is considered as a one-time exception, SIDCO shall recover the land acquisition cost in five years and shall earn Rs 26 crore in next five years, besides saving Rs 108 crore toward development cost,” reads the minutes.
Anu Malik, the director of Industries at Jammu, has states that the relaxation sought, if granted, would not suit the economic interests of J&K. Moreover, as per the statement of the director, the company abstained from involving themselves in any discussion regarding the same, which indicated that ‘they were not serious’.
The proposal initially envisages setting up of an industrial park, housing more than two dozens of production units, relating to a range of items. Patanjali Park was proposed to host groups related to organic products in the beauty line and medicines. Alongside, they offered to grow small nurseries for the production of essentials like flour and oil. The plan was vast, and the area of land sought was justified, but the waivers set it back for them. The objective behind setting up the plant was to develop horticulture, agriculture and a herbal based unit of FMCG. The proposal put forth by the Patanjali Food and Herbal Park Private Limited is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Patanjali Ayurved. It says the main objective of setting up the industrial unit was to establish an integrated value chain processing to empower farmers in the region and generate employment. After the rejection of the said proposal, the committee had directed SIDCO to immediately take possession of the land from the district administration and submit a plan for the development of the area into a new industrial estate.