HYDERABAD: The Andhra Pradesh Dairy Cooperatives' Forum has hailed the High Court order suspending the ordinance excluding dairy cooperatives from the Andhra Pradesh Mutually Aided Cooperative Societies Act, 1995 (MACS Act) issued by the Government.

At a press conference here on Wednesday, leaders of the forum accompanied by Lok Satta national coordinator Jayaprakash Narayan expressed happiness that the court had upheld the people's right to operate milk cooperatives.

`Regressive law'

M. Janakiramaiah, chairman of the forum, M.Gopalakrishna Choudhary (District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union, Nellore), Srinivasa Rao (Prakasam), Rama Reddy, president, Cooperative Development Foundation, demanded that the Government withdraw the ordinance which was a "regressive law." They said the "act of the Government was clearly discriminatory" and harmful to the interests of milk producers. "We don't see any logic in depriving the milk producers throughout the State from forming their own self-reliant cooperatives under the Act." The leaders explained that eight of the 11 district-level cooperative milk unions in the State -- Visakha, Krishna, Prakasam, Nellore, Kurnool, Nalgonda, Ranga Reddy, Karimnagar -- had repaid the Government's share capital and got them converted into MACS by following the procedure prescribed by the law. The other three chose to maintain the old Act "with the fond hope that their interests would be protected by the Government."

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