PANAJI
Justifying the decision of its government to authorise the Surat District Co-operative Milk Producers Union Limited (SUMUL) to extend its services in Goa, the Bharatiya Janata Party, on Tuesday, said that the decision will not only benefit the state dairy farmers, but also ensure better collection of milk from them as well as provide quality milk to the consumers.
Addressing a press conference at the city BJP headquarters, the Sankhali legislator of the party Dr Pramod Sawant said that there will be no financial burden on the government due to the arrival of SUMUL in Goa, as also the government would have to provide neither land nor financial assistance to the company.
"The government has authorised SUMUL to function on a pilot basis in the state, and its department of animal husbandry and veterinary services will have a control on this functioning," he added, stating that SUMUL has its independent set up and will carry out packing operations in Goa.
Brushing aside the recent allegations made by the former chief minister Ravi Naik that the arrival of SUMUL will cause heavy damage to the functioning of Goa Dairy, Dr Sawant said that on the contrary, the competition generated between two dairies will provide quality milk to the customers and better rate towards milk for the dairy farmers.
"Furthermore, the dairies in other states are directly under the control of the department of animal husbandry and veterinary services, as against the functioning of Goa Dairy under the co-operative sector," he noted.
Speaking further, Dr Sawant said that SUMUL has been permitted to carry out activities throughout the state, however, initially it would begin its operations in four talukas namely Sattari, Canacona, Sanguem and Quepem.
The Sankhali MLA maintained that the production of milk by Goa Dairy was 31,000 litres per day in the year 2000, which shot up to 60,000 litres per day, including 31,000 litres of milk collected from local dairy farmers when the BJP government came to power in 2001, and furthermore rose to 90,000 litres per day in 2004.
"When the Congress government came to power in the state in 2005, there was a drop in the production of milk by Goa Dairy to 62,000 litres per day," he revealed, informing that the BJP government, which came back to power in 2012, had to introduce schemes like revamped Kamdhenu Scheme for hiking the milk production to 1.20 lakh litres per day including 80,000 litres of milk collected from the dairy farmers.
Alleging that Goa Dairy has dismally failed to market its milk, Dr Sawant further charged that Goa Dairy pays very low rate per litre of milk collected from the local dairy farmers.
"The arrival of SUMUL is expected to provide better rates to their milk," he mentioned.
He also displayed a related government notification stating that SUMUL will establish large scale dairy farms in Goa on line with Anand Milk Union Limited (AMUL).
The notification also states that the rate of milk to be charged shall be determined by SUMUL under intimation to the state government, adding that SUMUL will further provide high yielding milch animals from Surat district for the farmers of Goa under the Kamdhenu Scheme.