CM Ys Jagan while launching Jagananna Palavelluva
Ap sigmed two MOUs with Taste of India
Amaravati, January 28: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has launched Jagananna Palavelluva- AP Amul Project in Anantapur district virtually from his camp office here on Friday (RPT) Friday.
The State Government has signed two MoUs with Amul for purchase of Milk for Balamrutham and Anganwadi kids, in the presence of the Chief Minister.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said Amul is largest dairy cooperative society and it has enormous experience in milk processing and added that Amul has been buying milk paying more money than private dairies. He said dairy farmers are the stakeholders in this society and added that they are manufacturing chocolates from milk and competing with world class companies.
The Chief Minister said Amul has been paying decent price to dairy farmers with no scope for cheating, adulteration and middlemen and added that they have been giving profits as bonus for every six months. He said some vested interests have destroyed cooperative dairies and many have turned into private firms and added that Amul has already started procuring milk in six districts ( Prakasam, Chittoor, Kadapa, Guntur, West Godavari and Krishna ) benefitting dairy farmers.
Witnessed problems of dairy farmers
He said he had witnessed the problems of dairy farmers during padayatra where they compared their milk rates to that of mineral water, saying while the price of one-litre mineral water was Rs 23, they don’t even get that for a litre of milk and added that the state government has been taking measures to overcome such scenario.
The Chief Minister said the other dairies have been paying Rs 5 to Rs 20 per litre more than the existing price as that Amul has been paying remunerative price in the market. He said the state government has been setting up BMCs and AMCs at locations where milk is being procured and added that they will be setup in every village with expansion of Amul project. He said receipt will be given to the dairy farmers with details of price and quantity immediately after milk is purchased and added that quality can be tested directly.
Focus on preventing fault procurement
The Chief Minister said the state government has laid special focus to prevent fraud in milk procurement and increased inspection drives and added that 20 cases were registered at various locations. He said the people who were booked are paying Rs 0.45 to Rs 10 less than the prescribed price.
The Chief Minister has thanked Amul MD RS Sodhi, Kaira Milk Union MD Amit Vyas, Banaskantha Milk Union MD Sangram Chaudhary, Sabarkantha Milk Union MD Anil Bayati for participating in the event.
Deputy Chief Minister (Revenue) Dharmana Krishna Das, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Minister Seediri Appalraju, Women and Child Welfare Minister Taneti Vanitha, Chief Secretary Dr Sameer Sharma, Agri Mission Vice Chairman MVS Nagi Reddy, Agriculture Special Chief Secretary Poonam Malakondaiah, Women and Child Welfare Principal Secretary A R Anuradha, APDDCF MD A Babu, Animal Husbandry Director Amarendra Kumar, Amul Senior GM J Rajan and other officials were present on the occasion.
RS Sodhi, Managing Director of Amul, hailed the Chief Minister for considering the importance of dairy sector in State and standing by the farmers and women. Reiterating that Amul is a farmers’ cooperative, without the involvement of any government or any private body, he said that the 75 year old organisation has been partnered with 36 lakh farmers in Gujarat and another 7 lakh farmers outside the state and collecting 2.5 crore liters of milk daily in Gujarat and another 50 lakh liters outside the state. He said that in Andhra Pradesh alone Amul has been collecting about one lakh litres of milk every day.
Adequate facilities for milk processing
RS Sodhi stressed that adequate facilities need to be provided for milk processing here in AP, where Amul has already set up a processing unit in Madanapalle and soon two other units will start in Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam.
He said that Amul has been supplying fresh flavored milk to about 25 lakh children in Anganwadi and schools every day for the last 15 years in Gujarat besides providing nutritious food to Anganwadi children in Gujarat for the last 4 years. He said that in the same way, Sabarkanta Dairy Co-operative Society has set up a plant in Andhra Pradesh to supply high quality nutritious food to children. He thanked the Chief Minister for giving this opportunity.
Minister Seediri Appalaraju said that it was a great pleasure to launch this programme in Anantapur district, after successfully running in Kadapa, Prakasam, Chittoor, Guntur, West Godavari and Krishna districts. He said that the main intention of this programme is to strengthen the cooperatives and empower women in building the rural economy.
Earlier, a large number of dairy farmers especially those in the unorganised sector were cheated by middlemen and brokers. With, women are indeed earning more and standing as support to their families. He stated that the programme will be launched in the remaining districts as well.
