Vellore, Tiruvannamalai Aavin to provide ghee for Chennai

The Vellore and Tiruvannamalai Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union has signed an agreement with Chennai Aavin to provide them with a maximum of 100 tonnes of ghee every month, officials said.

The present agreement would help the union to get assured returns as the cost involved in making other byproducts from milk proved expensive.

“We face problems when we have excess milk” officials said. While the district union is procuring 4 lakh litres per day during the current lean season, the daily demand from Chennai Aavin has also increased from to 1.80 lakh litres from the earlier 1.30 lakh litres. “Excess milk is now being diverted to Chennai and this is helping to save big on the conversion cost” officials said. “The Chennai Aavin has promised to market the ghee due to increased demand in the metropolis” they added.

Meanwhile vigilance officials till Tuesday evening spent two days quizzing Vellore Aavin officials on specific complaints against former General Managers M Prabakaran and KS Murali Prasad. Sources said that unnecessary expenditure by officials had resulted in the union incurring a loss to the tune of Rs 17 crore. Sources also wondered why tougher action under Sec 81 of the cooperative act was not being initiated against the two officials.

When asked about this, officials refused to comment saying that it was for the deputy registrar of cooperatives to decide on the course of action to be initiated. But given the fact that the union handed over Rs 20 crore of the Rs 35 crore it had accumulated as profit to milk farmers during the tenure of Jayalalithaa as chief minister five years ago, sources said, “the remaining Rs 15 crore was frittered away on wasteful expenditure. And it was with this amount of Rs 15 crore many schemes were launched but failed to earn any significant revenue.”