Shimla, Dec 27 (IANS) Food products major Nestle India has got the approval to set up a Rs.250-crore food and beverages manufacturing facility in Himachal Pradesh.
“Nestle’s proposal to set up a food processing unit in Una district has been approved. The unit will provide direct employment to 650 people,” said industries director Manoj Kumar.

The state’s single-window clearance committee and monitoring authority also gave approval to another 16 industrial proposals Saturday evening, Kumar said.

“The government cleared 17 industrial proposals, including seven new ones. The proposals involve an investment of Rs.419.31 crore and will create 1,700 jobs.”

The state had offered a plot to Nestle at the Baddi industrial area in Solan district too.

A senior official said Nestle’s proposed plant would be close to Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, and the site was selected with an eye to business prospects in these neighbouring states too.

Since the announcement of the special industrial package in January 2003 by the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance government at the centre, Himachal Pradesh has attracted investments worth Rs.40,130 crore.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state is attempting to get the special package extended to 2013, as announced originally.

The current industrial package will expire in March 2010.

Kumar said in the last two years alone, the government cleared 2,320 industrial proposals worth Rs.11,205 crore.

Himachal Pradesh has 38 industrial areas and 15 industrial estates.