Gujarat blames Centre for Amul milk hike

The Gujarat government has blamed the Centre for hiking Amul milk prices by Rs one per litre in the state. The decision taken by the Gujarat Cooperatives Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) of hiking milk prices of Amul brand milk by Rs one per litre for all the six brands of milk sold by it in the state will affect the common man, Gujarat Agriculture Minister Dilip Sanghani told PTI.

All the 13 districts milk dairies located across Gujarat are the members of this Federation (GCMMF). "I had written to the Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar last month requesting him to grant subsidy of Rs 220 crore to the milk producers in the state," Sanghani said.

"Had this demand been conceeded by the Union government, the hike in milk prices could have been avoided. Despite writing to Pawar and raising the issue at the recently held meeting of state agriculture ministers convened by the Centre in New Delhi about a fortnight ago, I have not received any reply," Sanghani said. However, Union minister of state for small scale, medium scale and micro industries, Dinsha Patel, has defended the decision of hiking milk prices by the GCMMF, saying it is going to benefit small and marginal farmers who are milk producers.