For the first time, the board of directors of the Baroda District Co-operative Milk Producers Union Limited (BDCMPUL) popularly known as Baroda Dairy came out in the open to counter allegations levelled against its management by Savli’s BJP MLA Ketan Inamdar.
In a scathing attack for the past week, Inamdar has levelled a series of allegations alleging corruption and nepotism in recruitment by the board members and managing director (MD). Inamdar has already threatened to stage a ‘dharna’ protest at the dairy premises on Monday.
On Saturday, the dairy’s acting chairman GB Solanki countered the allegations stating that all the milk unions in Gujarat are witnessing a dip in their milk procurement.
“The MLA has alleged that while other dairies are paying Rs 780-Rs 840 per kilo fat, Baroda Dairy is paying Rs 750 per kilo fat as procurement price to its members. There are a variety of reasons for this. The population of buffaloes and cows, average fat, weather condition, water and cattle feed in each district differs,” he said.
“At the same time, if you consider the per litre price, Baroda Dairy is paying a much better price compared to other dairies. For instance, we are paying Rs 32.54 per litre for cow milk whereas Mehsana Dairy is paying Rs 31.87 per litre for cow milk,” he said.
He said that while Inamdar has alleged that Baroda Dairy sells milk at Rs 64 per litre to consumers and pays much less to farmers, the fact remains that there is a difference of just Rs 7.
“The average per litre price paid to ‘mandalis’ stands at Rs 45.77 whereas the average price at which milk is sold to consumers stands at Rs 52.77 per litre. Hence, the difference is Rs 7. In all the diaries of Gujarat, the thumb rule is to pass on 80 % of the consumer money to farmers. We pass on 86 %,” he said.
Regarding allegations of nepotism, he said that the dairy carries out the recruitment of 50-100 people at a time.
On his son-in-law’s appointment in the dairy, he said that in 2010, when the chairman and vice-chairman were different, Baroda Dairy had carried out a recruitment process for 91 posts for which a third party was assigned the task. “It was based on the recommendations of this agency that the recruitment was carried out,” he said.
He also termed the allegations of his daughter being awarded a contract as baseless. “I have two daughters and neither of them is partner in any firm,” he said.
Source : The Times of India Feb 19 2023