Karnataka - Hassan   

Rs. 100-crore milk plant to be set up

By Our Staff Correspondent

By Our Staff

Correspondent

HASSAN, SEPT. 14. The Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) has decided to set up a Rs. 100-crore, hi-tech milk powdering plant at Channarayapatna taluk in Hassan district.

The new plant will convert excess milk being procured from the farmers of Mysore, Mandya, Hassan, Tumkur and Shimoga districts into powder.

Disclosing this to The Hindu, the Managing Director of the Hassan Milk Union Limited (HAMUL), B.P. Ranganath, said of the 2.25 lakh litres of milk being procured from 670 milk unions, HAMUL was marketing only 65,000 litres in sachets and another 80,000 litres was being supplied to Dakshina Kannada district, Kerala and Baramathi in Maharashtra.

The balance (80,000 litres) was being sent to Mother Diary for being converted into powder.

The situation in other districts was no different and all the milk unions of Mysore, Mandya, Hassan, Tumkur and Shimoga were incurring extra cost for converting the excess milk into powder.

In view of this, it was decided to set up a hi-tech powdering plant in Channarayapatna, he said.

NDDB team

A team of experts from the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) visited Hassan recently and studied the possibilities of setting up the powdering plant. Another team would soon conduct an elaborate survey.

It had been decided to expand and modernise the Kudige diary at a cost of Rs. 2.35 crores. An estimate had been sent to the Karnataka Milk Federation in this connection. There were plans to expand the cattle feed producing plant in Hassan at a cost of Rs. 3 crores and to set up another plant to meet the requirements of farmers in the area, he said.

Competition

On the protest against private milk producing companies, he said it was a trans-national phenomenon and milk unions were aware of the danger since 1996-1997.

In view of this, various milk unions were making efforts, including improving quality of the product and advertising, to retain their hold in the market.

Programmes had been chalked out to educate the people on the quality of milk being supplied by milk unions. HAMUL had introduced 20 insulated vehicles for the supply of quality milk to its customers, he said.

Though milk unions were producing excess milk, HAMUL had not declared a "milk holiday" so far. It had not rejected milk from farmers, he added. The commission offered by the private companies to the distributors was more compared to that being offered by the Karnataka Milk Federation. This had affected sales of HAMUL milk by 10,000 litres, he said.

Fears

However, Mr. Ranganath expressed apprehension over the 2.80 lakh litres of milk being produced during the calving season. At present, HAMUL had a stock of Rs. 7 crores. HAMUL had increased the procuring price by 50 paise and Rs. 1.27 crores had been disbursed among the milk unions as price difference. There were plans to increase the capacity of the Hassan plant from 1.20 lakh litres to three lakh litres.

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