BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday hinted at hiking the prices of Nandini milk once again. He suggested to Cooperative Minister KN Rajanna to convene a meeting of KMF directors to decide on the matter.
Just in June this year, the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) increased milk prices by Rs 2, offering an extra 50 ml of milk per 500 ml sachet.
The CM, after inaugurating the new office of the Bengaluru Milk Union, said farmers dependent on dairy farming are not benefiting.
“The cooperative department has requested us to increase the price of milk by Rs 5,” the CM said.
In the interest of farmers, a meeting will be convened with all stakeholders, and the price will be increased. The hike will benefit farmers directly, he added.
But he started off by saying the milk procurement price - the amount paid to dairy farmers by milk unions - will be increased, without specifying whether consumers will be made to bear the burden of this hike.
He said, “Also, there has been a practice from the past where farmers have to pay 20 paise per litre of milk to cooperative societies. We will decide on that too soon. We are always pro-farmers, there is no compromise in this.”
He said that when the government recently hiked milk prices, BJP created a hue and cry, saying it would burden people.
“Then you (milk producers), the beneficiaries of the price hike, remained silent. Shouldn’t you have shut the mouths of BJP leaders for opposing a hike that will benefit the farmers,” he asked the audience.
The CM claimed that his government increased the incentive for farmers when the production of milk increased, and the Ksheera Bhagya scheme was implemented to distribute surplus milk to children at government schools.
“But those who did nothing for farmers, claim to be the sons of the soil,” he said, indirectly attacking JDS patriarch and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda and Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy.