Chennai, Sept 3:
Tamil Nadu Milk and Dairy Development Minister C Vijayalakshmi has announced that the government will soon release a white paper on the financial and administrative management of Aavin, while alleging that mismanagement under the previous regime had pushed the cooperative dairy organisation into financial difficulties.
The announcement was made during the debate on the demands for grants for her department in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Wednesday.
The Minister said India remains the world’s largest milk producer and that Tamil Nadu accounts for 4.16 per cent of the country’s total milk production.
Tamil Nadu, she said, currently ranks 11th among states in milk production.
Vijayalakshmi said Aavin procures milk worth around Rs 13 crore every day from milk producers. This translates into procurement worth nearly Rs 5,000 crore annually.
However, she alleged that the cooperative’s financial condition and milk procurement network had been adversely affected by mismanagement during the previous government.
According to figures cited by the Minister, the number of milk producers’ cooperative unions in the State had declined from 9,470 to 8,851.
The number of milk producers had also fallen from 4.25 lakh to 3.16 lakh, she said.
The Minister further stated that Aavin had outstanding dues of Rs 255 crore to farmers for milk procured from them.
The organisation also had a debt of Rs 482 crore to the State government, according to the figures presented in the Assembly.
Vijayalakshmi alleged that Aavin’s annual loss had increased from Rs 603 crore to Rs 1,275 crore during the previous regime.
The government now plans to place the details before the public through a white paper.
In addition, the Minister announced that a committee would be constituted to inquire into the alleged mismanagement of Aavin under the previous government.
She said appropriate action would be taken based on the findings of the committee.
The proposed white paper is expected to provide a detailed picture of Aavin’s financial position, administrative structure, procurement system and liabilities.
The move is likely to put the functioning of Tamil Nadu’s major cooperative dairy organisation under renewed political and administrative scrutiny.