· Highest ever one time hike of last three decades will boost animal husbandry sector
Anil Kumar, a resident of Palampur, who has been running a milk society for the last 29 years expressed his gratitude to Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu for one time increasing the procurement price of milk by rupees six as compared to Rs 18 during the last 30 years. He was sharing his experience during an interaction meeting with the milk producers of the state at Peterhoff today and also appreciated the Chief Minister for taking a decision for increasing the compensation on the death of sheep and goats to Rs 6,000 and Rs 55,000 on cows and buffaloes.
Vikas Sarin of Nagrota Bagwan, who used to work at Gurgaon, said that he never thought to adopt dairy as his career option by forming a society. He had to face many difficulties in the beginning and efforts were made for three months to collect just three liters of milk by spending rupees one lakh. But with the one-time increase of six rupees in the milk procurement price, 450 farmers have joined his society now, he said and added that the quality of milk in Himachal was far better and it should be encouraged.
Sunita, a resident of Nadaun of Hamirpur district said that no one had ever expected that any state government would increase the price by Rs. 6 in one go but it became a reality all due to the strong willpower of the Chief Minister, which benefited thousands of farmers of the state. Earlier, the maximum increase was fifty paise or one rupee but this effort of the present government was commendable and now people were opting for milk production on their own, she added.
Reena Devi of district Kullu while expressing gratitude to the state government said that her income increased by around Rs. 4500 per month. Earlier she used to earn Rs. 18,600 per month and now it goes up to Rs. 22,900 every month.
Manali resident Panna Lal said that thousands of farmers of the state have benefited from this decision and they are now getting additional income of thousands of rupees per month. Anni’s Om Prakash also thanked the government for increasing the price.
Tula Ram, a resident of Rampur Bushahr in district Shimla said that the effort of the state government to interact directly with the farmers was commendable, which would benefit them in future as well. He said that not only the government has increased the milk procurement price but through Milkfed, the farmers were getting money into their accounts within 15 days. He also suggested to make cattle feed cheaper and insuring milch animals.
J.R. Kaundal of Vyasdhenu, Bilaspur said that the farmers of the state were fortunate that the Chief Minister himself has taken the initiative to communicate with them. He said that their organization was working for the welfare of the village and collecting 40 thousand litre of milk every day from 70 gram panchayats. Present governments’ initiatives will further strengthen the dairy sector in a big way.
