Chennai:

In a contemporary flashpoint involving India’s dairy companies, Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister MK Stalin on Thursday requested Union House Minister Amit Shah to instruct the Gujarat-based dairy behemoth Amul to stop milk procurement actions in Tamil Nadu instantly.

In a letter to Mr Shah, Mr Stalin expressed considerations in regards to the implications of milk assortment by the Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union, generally generally known as Amul, in Tamil Nadu’s dairy producing areas which might have an effect on Aavin, the Tamil Nadu Co-operative Milk Producers Federation.

The Tamil Nadu authorities lately found that Amul has been utilizing its multi-state cooperative license to determine chilling centres and a processing plant in Krishnagiri district, in accordance with Mr Stalin.

He added that Amul intends to acquire milk through Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) and Self Assist Teams (SHGs) in Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupathur, Kancheepuram, and Tiruvallur districts in Tamil Nadu.

The Chief Minister harassed that it has been customary practise to permit cooperatives to prosper with out encroaching on one another’s dairy producing areas.

Such cross-procurement contravenes the spirit of ‘Operation White Flood’ and will worsen the present milk scarcity within the nation, affecting shoppers, he mentioned, and identified that Amul’s actions infringe on the dairy producing space of Aavin.

“It has been a norm in India to let cooperatives thrive with out infringing on one another’s milk-shed space. Such cross-procurement goes in opposition to the spirit of ‘Operation White Flood’ and can exacerbate issues for the shoppers given the prevailing milk scarcity state of affairs within the nation. This act of Amul infringes on Aavin’s milk shed space which has been nurtured in true cooperative spirit over many years,” the Chief Minister wrote.

Mr Stalin voiced considerations that this transfer by Amul would foster unhealthy competitors amongst cooperatives concerned in procuring and advertising and marketing milk and dairy merchandise.

“Regional cooperatives have been the cornerstone of dairy growth within the states and they’re higher geared up to work together with and assist producers, in addition to to guard shoppers from arbitrary worth will increase,” he wrote.

“Therefore, I request your rapid intervention to direct Amul to stop milk procurement from the dairy producing space of Aavin in Tamil Nadu instantly,” Mr Stalin said.

Mr Stalin clarified that till now, Amul solely bought its merchandise in Tamil Nadu by way of its shops. He identified that Tamil Nadu, like different states with sturdy dairy cooperatives, has successfully maintained a three-tier dairy cooperative system since 1981 for the advantage of rural milk producers and shoppers.

Based on Mr Stalin, “Aavin, our apex cooperative advertising and marketing federation, oversees 9,673 Milk Producers Co-operative Societies in rural areas. They procure 35 LLPD of milk from about 450,000 members. This association ensures milk producers uniform and worthwhile costs all year long.”

Aavin additionally provides varied assets similar to cattle feed, fodder, mineral mixtures, and animal well being care and breeding providers to boost and preserve milk manufacturing in Tamil Nadu. Furthermore, it ensures the provision of high-quality milk and dairy merchandise to shoppers at among the nation’s lowest costs. Subsequently, Aavin performs an important function in enhancing the livelihoods of rural milk producers and in assembly shoppers’ dietary wants, he wrote.

Final month, earlier than the Karnataka elections, a political controversy had erupted when Amul introduced its plans to enter the Bengaluru market with its milk and curd merchandise.

The then opposition events, Congress and JD-S, opposed the transfer, claiming that it might hurt the pursuits of the native dairy farmers and the state-owned Nandini model, which is run by the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF).