Just two out of 70 projects approved under the Ministry of Food Processing Industries’ Agro Processing Clusters (APC) scheme are complete and operational as per latest government figures accessed by The Indian Express. The APC scheme was in the news earlier this month when a political controversy erupted over the scheme allegedly benefiting Pride East Entertainments, a company related to Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife.
A total of 17 projects have completed building the core processing and basic enabling infrastructure but do not yet meet the requirement of operationalising at least 5 food processing units in the cluster. Of the remaining 51 projects under implementation, 30 are running behind the stipulated time schedule. Incidentally, the APC scheme is a modified version of the ministry’s Mega Food Parks (MFP) scheme, which was discontinued in 2021 as it “could not achieve” its desired outcomes. According to the ministry, delays in projects in the revamped APC scheme include time-consuming processes like change of land use, clearances from pollution control boards, sanction of term loan by lending bank/financial institutions, and Covid related delays.
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