Gandhinagar, May 17 (IANS) Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah said on Sunday that 75 per cent of the profits generated by Madhur Dairy’s newly inaugurated milk processing plant at Dashela village in Gandhinagar district would be transferred directly to livestock rearers after operational expenses are deducted.

The Union Home Minister made the announcement while inaugurating the fully automatic milk processing and packaging plant built at an estimated cost of Rs 128 crore on 15 acres of land.

The facility has been designed to process 2.5 lakh litres of milk per day initially, with expansion capacity up to five lakh litres per day in the future.

Addressing dairy farmers and livestock rearers, Union Minister Shah said the project had been structured to ensure that cooperative sector earnings reached producers directly.

“After deducting expenses, 75 per cent of the profit will be directly transferred into all your bank accounts,” he added.

He said that although consumers of milk, curd, buttermilk and ghee would benefit from the new plant, the biggest beneficiaries would be women livestock rearers associated with the cooperative dairy network.

“The biggest benefit will go to the livestock rearer mothers and sisters sitting in front of me,” Union Minister Shah added.

He described the plant as a new beginning for milk producers in Gandhinagar district and said “the dairy sector had become a strong economic support system for rural families”.

He noted that Madhur Dairy’s progress reflected the success of Gujarat’s cooperative movement.

According to figures shared during the event, Madhur Dairy began operations in 1971 with only four milk societies collecting around 6,400 litres of milk daily.

At present, the dairy collects around 2.76 lakh litres of milk every day and has an annual turnover of around Rs 628 crore.

“The cooperative structure had helped ensure direct financial participation of milk producers in the dairy economy. The model had particularly strengthened women’s economic participation in villages,” Union Minister Shah said.

Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel said the state had a long-standing tradition of cooperation and described the programme as a new stage in Gandhinagar’s development through the dairy sector.

“Madhur Dairy had grown from a small network of cooperative milk societies into a major institution serving both producers and consumers across the district,” he added.

The programme was attended by Gujarat Legislative Assembly Speaker Shankar Chaudhary, Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi, State Cooperation Minister Jitu Vaghani, State Bharatiya Janata Party President Jagdish Vishwakarma, Madhur Dairy Chairman Shankarsinh Rana, cooperative leaders, MLAs, dairy board members, livestock rearers and farmers.

–IANS

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