NEW DELHI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Thursday wrote a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, requesting his “urgent intervention to direct Amul to desist from milk procurement from the milkshed area of Aavin in Tamil Nadu with immediate effect.”
The Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union (Amul), has utilised their multi-state cooperative licence, to install chilling centres and a processing plant in Krishnagiri District and has planned to procure milk through FPOs and SHGs in and around Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupathur, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts in the State of Tamil Nadu.
Citing this Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin has written a letter to Union Home Minister Amith Shah, saying it has been a norm in India to let cooperatives thrive without infringing on each other’s milk-shed area and also said such cross-procurement goes against the spirit of ‘Operation White Flood’ and will exacerbate problems for the consumers given the prevailing milk shortage scenario in the country.
M K Stalin added in a letter to Amith Shah that “This act of Amul infringes on Aavin’s milkshed area which has been nurtured in true cooperative spirit over decades. This move by Amul will create unhealthy competition between cooperatives engaged in procuring and marketing milk and milk products. Regional cooperatives have been the bedrock of dairy development in the states and they are better placed to engage and nurture producers and to cushion consumers from arbitrary price hikes”.
Chief Minister M K Stalin also in the letter noted that Aavin’s huge role in the state and mentioned Aavin is Tamil Nadu’s apex cooperative marketing federation.
Under the ambit of Aavin co-operative, 9,673 Milk Producers Co-operative Societies are functioning in rural areas. They procure 35 LLPD of milk from about 4.5 lakh pouring members.
“I request you to urgent intervention to direct Amul to desist from milk procurement from the milk shed area of Aavin in Tamil Nadu with immediate effect” Stalin added in a letter to Amit Shah,” the CM said.
In another development, Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) President and MP Anbumani Ramadoss, in a tweet, posted on Thursday mentioned Aavin should never fall to Amul’s competition and also requested the Tamil Nadu government to increase the price of Aavin milk.
“Gujarat state government’s public sector milk company, Amul, has started intensifying milk procurement in Tamil Nadu. In Kanchipuram,
Thiruvallur and Ranipet Amul have set a target to produce 30,000 litres of milk per day and for that self-help groups are also being formed,” Ramadoss tweeted, adding, “For purchasing milk, Aavin is paying from Rs 32-34 per litre whereas Amul is paying Rs 36 per litre as purchasing price.”
Due to this, he said, “Aavin purchasing milk quantity could become less. If Amul plans got implemented Aavin would get affected hugely. Aavin should never fall to Amul.”
“Aavin purchasing price should be raised to meet the strong competition” Anbumani Ramadoss added in a tweet.
During Karnataka’s state election, the Amul and Nandini row became the speaking point and now in Tamil Nadu with CM Stalin’s letter to Amit Shah,
Amul once again becomes a hot topic in Tamil Nadu. (ANI)