On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will unveil five projects totaling Rs. 1,200 crore at the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) golden jubilee celebrations in Ahmedabad. GCMMF is the company that owns the “Amul” brand. The event will also cover the GCMMF’s 25-year plan, according to managing director Jayen Mehta of the federation.
More than 1.25 lakh dairy farmers from about 18,600 Gujarati villages are anticipated to attend the event, which is being held at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. According to Mehta, between 40 and 45 percent of the dairy farmers in attendance are female.
Established in 1973, the GCMMF oversees milk producers from 18 district dairy unions and generates a yearly revenue of Rs 61,000 crore, with 36.4 lakh farmers falling under its purview.
The Prime Minister is scheduled to unveil five new dairy projects: a 600-crore investment in a state-of-the-art cheese plant by Sabar Dairy; an extended chocolate plant by Amul Dairy; a 50,000-liter ice cream plant by Sarhad Dairy in Kutch; and a new Bharuch Dairy Unit in Mumbai. Despite being a non-political organization, the BJP has been in control of the GCMMF for the past few years.
The BJP controls the majority of the 18 dairy unions that are GCMMF members. The direct cooperatives are still led by Jetha Bharwad, the deputy speaker and chairman of Panchmahal Dairy, and Shankar Chaudhary, the speaker of the Gujarat Assembly, is still the chairman of Banas Dairy. Some claimed that R. S. Sodhi crossed political boundaries when he resigned from his position as the body’s MD in January of last year, following more than ten years in leadership. The Gujarati milk union leaders were associated with the Congress two decades ago. According to what a former GCMMF member told The Indian Express earlier, the BJP has now taken up the mantle.
During his one-day visit to Gujarat on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate or dedicate projects valued at Rs 79,517 crore. Additionally, he will be a part of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), the company that owns Amul (Anand Milk Union Limited), as it celebrates its golden.
He will unveil several Rs 3,000 crore projects during the festivities, including an ice cream factory at Sarhad Dairy in Kutch, a tetra pack milk processing plant in Anand, and a Mumbai Bharuch dairy branch. He will travel from Ahmedabad to Mehsana, where he will participate in the Valinath temple’s consecration ceremony and lay the foundation stones for projects valued at Rs 13,000 crore.
After that, he’s going to Navsari to dedicate and open projects valued at Rs 44,000 crore. Lastly, he will dedicate projects totaling Rs 22,517 crore at the Kakrapar Atomic Power Plant. The managing director of GCMMF, Jayen Mehta, stated, “This is how the company has completed 50 years today. Our 36 lakh dairy farmers, who make up our business that generates 300 lakh liters of milk every day, the women who work with us… get 200 crore rupees in savings accounts each day.”
