APDDCF to expand Lalapet unit

The Andhra Pradesh Dairy Development Cooperative Federation (APDDCF) will be expanding the capacity of its milk processing unit at Lalapet in the city at a cost of Rs 35 crore. Following the expansion, the unit will be able to process 600,000 litres of milk a day.

Chief minister, K Rosaiah, who reviewed the functioning of APDDCF, animal husbandry and fisheries departments on Tuesday, gave a green signal to various proposals made by the representatives of the three sectors.

Besides agreeing to the APDDCF’s expansion plan, according to an official press release, Rosaiah cleared the proposals for setting up two milk chilling centres in Anantapur district at a cost of Rs 3.3 crore and for recruitment of an additional 120 veterinary doctors and 400 compounders.

Keeping in view the fisheries department’s target to produce 1.45 million tonne (MT) of fish in the current year as against 1.3 MT in 2009-10, Rosaiah asked the officials to go ahead with the proposal to set up 9 wholesale and 34 retail fish markets in the state at a cost of Rs 10.5 crore.

The other proposals cleared at the review meeting include developing 1,035 hectare of fish ponds, stocking the 23 reservoirs in the state with 34.2 million fingerlings, providing an assistance of Rs 25,000 each to the 800 Matsya Mitra women groups and supplying 950 navigational equipment to fishermen at subsidised rates.

With regard to sheep and poultry, the chief minister enquired about the interventions required for enhancing the production of the livestock. He stressed the need for introducing better management practices.