HP govt to bail out MILKFED: minister

The Himachal government will take necessary steps to bail out state cooperative Milk Producers Federation (MILKFED) which is incurring huge losses, Rural Development minister Anil Sharma said today.
The losses of MILKFED, which is running a couple of chilling plants, have mounted to Rs 26.49 crore, Sharma informed the legislative assembly.
The government has increased the grant-in-aid for the Federation from Rs 12 crore in 2012-13 to Rs 13.50 crore from the next fiscal, he said in a reply to a question.
Due to huge losses incurred by the Federation, its liability towards farmers, supplying milk to the chilling plants, has increased to Rs 4.90 crore, the minister said.

More than 50,000 milk producers belonging to Shimla, Kullu and Mandi districts have been affected as the Federation is not making payments to them on a daily basis, he said.
The state government has increased the procurement price of milk from Rs 17.50 to Rs 18.50 per litre in 2013-14 budget to help farmers improve their financial condition, Sharma said.