'Amul's entry will create unhealthy competition...': Stalin writes to Shah
This comes after Amul established a plant in Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh and milk procured from Vellore is being routed to this plant.
The row that has broken out is reminiscent of the political slugfest ahead of the Assembly polls in K'taka over Amul entering the market dominated by Nandini (Illustration by Varghese Kallada)
CHENNAI: Dairy giant Amul’s entry into Tamil Nadu turned political on Thursday after Chief Minister MK Stalin, who is now on a two-nation tour to Singapore and Japan, shot off a letter to Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah, urging him to direct the Gujarat-based cooperative to stop procuring from Tamil Nadu milk shed area immediately.
The row that has broken out is reminiscent of the political slugfest ahead of the Assembly polls in Karnataka over Amul entering the market dominated by Nandini.
Drawing Shah’s attention to the issues arising out of milk procurement by the Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union (Amul) in the Tamil Nadu milk shed area, Stalin said, “Till now, Amul was just selling their products through their outlets in the State. In Tamil Nadu, like in other States with strong dairy cooperatives, a three-tier dairy cooperative system has been functioning effectively since 1981 for the benefit of the rural milk producers and consumers.”
What has irked the government was Amul’s move to use its multi-State cooperative license to install chilling centres and a processing plant in Krishnagiri and the plan to procure milk through FPOs and SHGs in and around Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupattur, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur.
This would create unhealthy competition between dairy cooperatives, he said, contending that regional cooperatives are the bedrock of dairy development and are better placed to engage and nurture producers and to cushion consumers from arbitrary price hikes.
Meanwhile, a senior official in charge of Amul’s Tamil Nadu operations told DT Next that it was not in the race with Aavin.
“We will not pay more than Aavin’s procurement price. We collect only from villages where no one else procures milk,” the official said.
At present, it procures 3,000 litres from 500 farmers in Vellore. It has started installing chilling centres and a processing plant in Krishnagiri, and would form collection centres in Tiruvannamalai, Kancheepuram, Ranipet, Vellore and Tiruvallur through SHGs and village-level cooperatives, the official explained.