The government has also decided to lease out milk powder making plants and other processing units in the cooperative dairies to Amul.

“Even though the plants are not in operation to full capacity, many who were employed while the plants are flourishing prior to bifurcation, remain idle and their salaries are not being paid regularly. In some cases, payments are being delayed. In order to achieve optimum human resource utilisation without any detriment to the interest of the organisation, it has been proposed to implement voluntary retirement scheme (VRS),” managing director of AP Dairy Development Cooperative Federation (APDDCF), Babu Ahmed, said in his report to the state government.

The government swiftly granted approval to the MD’s report and allowed him to issue VRS notification on January 1.

Interestingly, almost all district-level cooperative dairies have become defunct over the last few years despite the fact that private dairies did well in the state. In several cases, private dairies took control of procurement in some districts by paying paltry sums to milk producers. This forced several producers to sell their cattle as milk production was not seen profitable.

In an attempt to bring life back to the milk production sector and help producers, the government entered an MoU with Amul. The entry of Amul into AP, with the support of government has led to private players increasing their procurement price. “The private dairies have looted farmers for several years. Amul is not only going to pay good price but also help farmers with its veterinary experts,” said Rajya Sabha member Mopidevi Venkata Ramana Rao.