New Delhi: Union Minister for Home and Cooperation Amit Shah said on Friday that if the demand for a separate ministry for the cooperative sector was considered years ago, the situation of the dairy farmers would have been completely different by now.
Shah inaugurated a mega dairy built at a cost of ₹260 crore in Mandya district on Friday.
Addressing a public gathering after the inauguration, he said that if Amul and Nandini work jointly, in three years they will be primary diaries at every village.
KMF will get all technical support and cooperation from Amul, he said, adding that if Karnataka and Gujarat come together in this direction, it will benefit the farmers all over the country.
A Twitter campaign began on Saturday, demanding that the KMF Nandini be saved, with hashtag #SaveNandini trending.
Popular film actor Puneeth Rajkumar was the brand ambassador of Nandini and KMF is currently in profit. The attempt to merge such an organisation with Gujarat’s Amul should be condemned, said a twitter user.
“People should wake up before the life of the farmers of Karnataka is attacked. Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that Gujarat’s “Amul” and Karnataka’s “KMF” should work together. This is a premonition of danger after Vijaya Bank and Mysore Bank, which were already profitable in Karnataka, have lost their existence,” said Chetan Surya in a twitter post.
“Nandini, KMF has helped lakhs of farmers in Karnataka. Now, what happens if it merges with Amul? Hundred years history of Vijaya Bank along with Bank of Baroda, the history of SBM with SBI will also be sidelined. In general, the Kannadigas would lose the helm of its administration,” said another Twitter user Vasanth Shetty.
KMF, the umbrella body of milk co-operatives in the state with 14 district-level milk unions under it, is the second largest milk dairy in the country after Amul. KMF has 2.4 million plus milk producer members, 14,000 milk producers’ co-operative societies spread in 22,000 villages and procuring 8.4 million litres of milk per day, according to government data. The KMF has operations in other states, supplying products to armed forces and exporting milk to many countries, including in Middle East.
Former chief minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Saturday alleged that Amit Shah has clearly shown that the corporates of Gujarat have their eyes on Karnataka’s milk dairy sector. “Karnataka farmers’ turnover in milk production is up to ₹20,000 crore and it has helped lakhs of farmers families,” he said.
“Now, the corporate eyes have fallen on it and people like Amit Shah with a bundle of lies are preparing to fool the people,” he added.
