Maha Assembly: Oppn targets govt over dairy sector woes

The Congress and the NCP today targeted the Maharashtra government claiming that it had not paid milk producers the rates it had promised.

The issue was raised by Opposition MLAs during a debate on a calling attention notice in the Legislative Assembly.

Senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar said that milk producers were promised a rate of Rs 27 per litre while milk powder producers were assured of a grant of Rs 3 per litre of milk converted into milk powder.

Pawar demanded that a meeting be convened to discuss issues faced by the dairy sector as well as the delay in implementing the rates promised by the state government.

He also demanded that milk producers be given a grant of Rs 5 per litre like what the Karnataka government had been doing.

State Dairy Development Minister Mahadeo Jankar told the House that he would discuss the issue with CM Fadnavis and organise a meeting in two days time.

The opposition then demanded the calling attention notice be withheld and be brought up for debate after the proposed meeting with the CM.

Fadnavis told the House that the meeting to discuss dairy sector problems would be held in two days and then requested Speaker Haribhau Bagde to withhold the calling attention notice.

Replying earlier, Jankar said that milk prices had fallen by 30-40 per cent in the domestic and international markets, adding that there was no market demand for milk power either.

He said that, as on March 31 this year, 26,506 metric tonnes of milk powder stock was remaining unsold.

He informed the house that Rs 3 per litre was given to convert milk to milk powder.

The opposition MLAs, however, were not satisfied with the minister's reply.