‘Will consult Stalin on increasing Aavin milk procurement price’

CHENNAI: State Dairy Minister S M Nasar on Tuesday informed the State Assembly that the ministry would consult the Chief Minister on the issue of increasing the procurement price of Aavin milk.

Replying to a special call attention motion moved by several members of the House, Nasar referred to the Rs 3 per litre hike in procurement price of cow and buffalo milk in November 2022 and said that the hike in procurement price created an additional financial burden of Rs 1.05 crore daily to the government and the milk producers were now requesting another Rs 7 per litre hike in milk procurement price by Aavin. Stating that it was a policy decision of the government, the minister informed the House that a skin disease had spread among the cattle in many states and it infected lakhs of cows and killed several thousand of them in Andhra, Telangana, Karnataka, Gujarat and Maharashtra. However, the State government controlled it as soon as cows were infected in border district Dharmapuri and prevented it in the state. Pointing out that milk producers were being paid Rs 35 per litre, the minister said that the private dairies from the affected states were paying between Rs 5 to 7 extra per litre of milk to farmers in Tamil Nadu to meet the demand in their state. The minister informed the House that he would take up the matter with the Chief Minister and make a decision.