3.73 lakh women milk farmers benefitted in AP with increased price, claims minister

Vijayawada: Minister for animal husbandry and fisheries Seediri Appalaraju has said all dairy farmers are leaning towards Amul as it is in partnership with the AP government under the Jagananna Paala Velluva Programme.

It is providing the highest prices for milk to the milk farmers, he said, and refuted the allegations of opposition leaders that milk farmers were facing neglect.

He claimed that when Amul was not present in AP, buffalo milk was being procured for Rs 71.47 paise per litre and cow milk for Rs 34.20 paise. “Now we are paying Rs 89.76 for buffalo milk and Rs 43.69 for cow milk.”

He said the opposition has been talking about cattle and milk union dairies running the present government, which “is totally a false allegation.”

Addressing the media here on Friday, Appalaraju said Chandrababu Naidu attacked the government-owned cooperative milk unions one by one as he brought all the dairies of Guntur, Krishna and Visakha milk unions under the MACOS Act, in place of the co-operatives act, and by appointing his own men as the chairmen of the respective unions, “Naidu took them under his wing.”

He claimed that many milk union dairies have been converted into private limited companies by Naidu, which “damaged the milk dairies sector.”

The minister claimed that Telugu Desam’s Dhulipalla Narendra grabbed the Sangam Dairy from the cooperatives and there existed ACB cases against him in this respect.

Appalaraju said there were 3.73 lakh women milk farmers in the state so far. “We are collecting 2.73 lakh litres of milk per day on an average from 4,113 women cooperative societies through Amul. In this connection, we have paid Rs 511 crore to women farmers so far.”

Amul and other private dairies increased the milk procurement prices and the additional benefit to the farmers was Rs 4,940 crore.

The minister said Pawan Kalyan was not a politically sensible person as his every word is like a drama script. “In the past, Pawan forged an alliance with Chandrababu and made him the chief minister. The same sins that he committed then are now haunting Kalyan,” he said.

Appalaraju said that all liquor brands including Boom Boom and Governor's Choice came to AP with Chandrababu's permission during the TD government’s term. “So, Daggubati Purandeswari should go and question Chandrababu regarding liquor and she should not simply read the script given by Chandrababu.”