The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) is set to take over Mahanand Dairy in Maharashtra, causing opposition and protests from employees and political parties who see it as Gujarat taking over Maharashtra projects. The dairy’s board of directors passed a resolution to hand over the dairy to NDDB, with a proposal for a voluntary retirement scheme for employees. The Maharashtra government denies the accusation that the dairy will be shifted to Gujarat, stating that NDDB will only take over management.
MUMBAI: The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), a central government undertaking with its head office in Gujarat, is all set to take over the state-run Mahanand Dairy. Apart from employees of the dairy opposing the decision due to a proposed retrenchment, opposition parties have called it yet another case of Gujarat filching projects from Maharashtra.
Mahanand is run by the Maharashtra Rajya Sahakari Dudh Mahasangh Maryadit (MRSDMM), an apex federation of district/taluka milk unions that was established to implement the Operation Flood programme in the state. MRSDMM procures milk from the member milk unions at remunerative rates and distributes it to consumers at reasonable prices.
On December 28, Mahanand’s board of directors passed a resolution to hand over the dairy to NDDB, and a proposal was sent to the state dairy development department for approval. The board has also sought ₹130 crore for a voluntary retirement scheme for its employees, since NDDB has indicated that it can accommodate only 350 of the dairy’s 940 employees. With the fate of 590 employees in the lurch, protests against the takeover are rife.
Mahanand Dairy was established in 1983 in Aarey Milk Colony by MRSDMM. At one time, it was a profit-making business, with a share of nine lakh litres in the milk distribution business in Mumbai and other parts of the state. Later, its collection of milk dipped below one lakh litres daily and it ran into losses.
Early this year, the Maharashtra government held talks with NDDB with regard to taking over the control of Mahanand. Dairy development minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil of the BJP had indicated that the transfer would happen in March 2023 while talking in the Mahanand debate in the state legislature.
Opposition parties have slammed the state government for the decision. Apart from pointing it out as yet another example of Maharashtra’s projects being appropriated by Gujarat, they say it is an issue of regional pride. “Every day, one or another project has been shifting to Gujarat while the CM and the two DCMs keep mum,” said Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut. “Before the Karnataka elections, the BJP tried to promote Amul over the local brand ‘Nandini’, and it became an issue of Kannada pride. For us, Mahanand is an identity of Maharashtra, which they want to wipe out. We will not watch this insult to Maharashtra silently.”
Congress chief spokesperson Atul Londhe said that the state government was compromising a renowned brand of Maharashtra to benefit Amul. “Even if the dairy is not physically shifted to Gujarat, the control will be in the hands of Gujarat, as the NDDB headquarters are situated in Anand,” he said. “After the Vedanta-Foxconn diamond bourse, Mahanand Dairy is yet another example in the projects-to-Gujarat series.”
Dairy development minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, however, ruled out the opposition’s charge that Mahanand would be taken over by Gujarat through NDDB. “Mahanand was once running with great efficiency but in the last five to ten years, due to mismanagement, it has been operating at a loss,” he said. “Thus the proposal to hand over the dairy to NDDB. The opposition’s charge that the diary will be shifted to Gujarat is baseless. It will remain at Goregaon as it is. NDDB will just take over the management and make it profitable again.”
Source: Hindustan Times
