By Y.S. Rana , CHANDIGARH : The Screening Committee of the Punjab Government, at its meeting held on Nov 3, considered and recommended six projects under the Agri Mega Projects Scheme involving capital investment of R 1,653 crore. The meeting was chaired by Mr. S.C. Agarwal; IAS, Chief Secretary, Punjab.
Giving details of the project, Mr. Sanjay Kumar, IAS, Managing Director, Punjab Agro Industries Corporation stated that the Government has received new proposals to set up mega agro based industries in the state of Punjab. The projects, which have been recommended include proposals from M/s. Soma Punjab Warehousing (P) Limited for construction of agricultural warehouses at 12 different locations in Punjab having capacity of 12,97,990 M.T. with a proposed investment of Rs. 615 crores. These infrastructures would lead to have better upkeep of the produce.
M/s. Soma Punjab Agro-Power Infra (P) Ltd. have proposed to set up eight rice mills with a capacity of 20TPH and a bio-mass power plant of 3 MW . The proposed investment will be around R 472 crore.
M/s. Indian Sucross Limited have proposed to invest around R 140 crore, where they will be not only reviving the existing closed unit of M/s. Mukerian Paper Limited but will also add additional capacity to the paper mill. In addition they will also install soda recovery plant and power cogeneration plant.
M/s. Nasa Agro Industries Limited have proposed to invest R 400 crores to set up an integrated agro industrial park in district Fazilka. The industrial park will have number of agro based industrial units. Fazilka is primarily an
agricultural district which has been recently created. Coming up of an industrial park in this area will create additional infrastructure for agro based industries.
M/s. Sampuran Agri Ventrues Pvt. Limited have proposed to set up an integrated agro based project with an investment of R 33.56 crore in district Ferozepur. This would primarily produce bio-fertilizer, provide facilities for mushroom growing & packaging, egg hatchery, dairy farming as well as power co-generation. The unique feature of this project is that it would be utilizing saline water, which is at present creating a lot of waste land in water logged areas of district Fazilka.
M/s. Bajaj Basmati Pvt. Limited, with an investment of R 30.56 crore, have proposed to set up 8 TPH rice mill at Jalalabad, district Ferozepur.
So far more than 40 agro based mega projects have been cleared by the government and they are at different stages of implementation as well as completion. These units are likely to invest more than R 4,000 crore in the state of Punjab.