CHENNAI: Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami informed the Assembly on Friday that the State government may increase the procurement price for milk, to benefit the dairy farmers, which is not possible without increasing the retail milk prices too. He was responding to an issue raised by DMK member KPP Samy on why the procurement prices were not raised despite the hike in the fodder prices and water shortage over the years.
Palaniswami agreed that the prices were not hiked in the last four years. “If we have to raise the procurement price for the dairy farmers, we have to raise the price for the consumers too. This is true with every party that is in power... However, the opposition parties will make it political,” he said.
He questioned if the opposition parties would support such a price hike for the consumers, and added that if the procurement prices are hiked without increasing the retail prices, the cooperatives would suffer losses. Highlighting various issues around raising the milk procurement prices, he concluded that the state government would definitely hike the same for dairy farmers.
“Similarly, we will raise the retail price for consumers and ensure the cooperatives run without any losses,” he said.