The Punjab government approved Mukesh Ambani-run Reliance Industries Limited's proposal for a Rs 5,000-crore (Rs 50 billion) mega agri project in the state that is expected to create over 30,000 new jobs.
"Mukesh Ambani recently met me in Chandigarh and informed that he was going ahead with the project in Punjab, with or without government's assistance. I told him that the government would fulfil all its commitment and provide all necessary assistance to set up the mega project," Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh told reporters after a meeting of the state Cabinet in Chandigarh.
Reliance Industries Limited will set up five agri hubs in Punjab near Chandigarh before October 31 with an investment of Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion), he said.
Besides, RIL has plans to set up 52 rural business hubs and over 300 satellite rural business hubs in different parts of the state, each hub would be spread over 20 to 40 acres.
Apart from imparting training, providing new seeds, latest facilities and know-how to farmers, the Reliance project aims at launching agricultural insurance and banking finance in the state, he said.
The project aimed at raising milk production in the state manifold and setting up educational institutions (primary and middle).
The agricultural produce would be sold by the company through its 22,000 outlets.
Besides Punjab, RIL has planned to set up similar agri projects in Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh.
When implemented, the project would cover 80 per cent farmers in Punjab, cover three lakh acres for marketing and processing, procure nine lakh tonnes of grains for domestic and overseas marketing, grow/process two lakh tonnes of horticulture produce, procure and process seven lakh liters of milk per day.
The project would begin with an initial investment of Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion), and it would generate direct and indirect employment for 30,000 people. The state government is not giving any land to RIL free of cost, Singh clarified.
Sharing more details, the chief minister said the panchayat lands would be handed over on lease to RIL for Rs 16,000 per acre, with a provision of escalation in the lease money by 5 to 10 per cent every year.
Punjab Small Industries Exports Corporation land would be sold to RIL at the cost price, with a condition that the company would pay the enhancement and escalation costs as fixed by the Punjab and Haryana high court in future, Singh said.
"A large chunk of PSIEC land had been lying idle and unused for the past 11 years," he informed.
Referring to the controversy over 20 acres of prime land of the Mandi Board, which was earlier proposed to be handed over to RIL for this project, the chief minister said the government had now decided to call for competitive bids to sell this chunk for setting up a vegetable market.
"We would have approved the project four months ago, had the press not raised a hue and cry over it," Singh said, clarifying that the land given to RIL was project-specific and could not be sold for any other purposes.
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