Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis inaugurated the refurbished milk processing plant Mother Dairy in Civil Lines in Nagpur on 4 June 2017. Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Radha Mohan Singh and Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari graced the occasion as chief guests. Minister for Agriculture and Horticulture Pandurang Fundkar, Minister for Energy, New and Renewable Energy Chandrashekar Bawankule, Minister for Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development and Fisheries Mahadev Jankar and Chairman National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) Dilip Rath were also present.

In his address, Fadnavis said that the Vidarbha and Marathwada region of Maharashtra includes some of the most backward districts in the country with extreme drought conditions prevailing over many years. Dairying often remains the only hope in such adverse climatic conditions to ease farmer distress. He is confident that NDDB and its subsidiaries would put in their best efforts to implement the dairy development initiative for the benefit of the milk producers of Vidarbha and Marathwada.

Lauding NDDBs efforts, Radha Mohan Singh conveyed that the dairy development activities in Vidarbha and Marathwada would ensure regular and better returns to milk producers. He said that the core components of this dairy development initiative are productivity enhancement of milk animals and creation of sustainable farmers owned institutions.

Nitin Gadkari said that NDDB will bring milk revolution in Vidarbha and Marathwada. NDDBs initiative will also put in place a fair, transparent and sustainable system. He is hopeful that the farmers would grab this opportunity and adopt dairy farming as an additional source of income.

Read more: India’s first Multi Modal Electric Vehicle Project and Ola Electric Charging Station launched in Nagpur

Dilip Rath said that the newly refurbished dairy plant has been completed in a record time of four months and has a milk processing capacity of 50,000 litres per day expandable to two lac litres per day. In addition, Mother Dairy is setting up manufacturing lines for value added dairy range like curd, buttermilk, etc., which is expected to be commissioned by September 2017. The plant houses equipment with latest technology to monitor and record all critical process parameters for ensuring milk quality on a continuous basis. A state-of-the-art quality control laboratory has been set up in order to test and monitor stringent quality parameters ensuring safe products for consumers.

Rath also requested the Government of Maharashtra to support NDDB further in execution of lease agreement for land at Gove Bhiwandi to help set up a five lakh litres per day plant; to allocate sufficient funds for activities such as development of Nagpuri breed, fodder development, animal health, ration balancing advisory services, which are to be implemented by the Government of Maharashtra to help increase productivity and ensure that the project coordination team is given sufficient stability of tenure.

S Nagarajan, Managing Director, Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable Pvt. Ltd. said that Mother Dairy is committed to the cause of rural prosperity by promoting dairy development aimed to support milk producers and enhancement of farm productivity. In order to strengthen the cause, Mother Dairy is extending the reach to farmers from Marathwada and Vidarbha ensuring them with regular and remunerative market for their produce.