BENGALURU: Newly elected Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) chairman Bheema Naik on Wednesday hinted at increasing the procurement of milk and hiking the selling price.
He will soon lead a delegation of the presidents of all the 14 milk producers’ unions of the state to meet Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as well as Cooperation Minister KN Rajanna and Animal Husbandry Minister K Venkatesh.
“Due to inflation, the prices of all commodities, including fodder for cattle, have gone up. So, the hike in the price of the milk will be discussed with the CM,” he told TNIE.
“My priority as chairman is to increase the procurement of milk from 94 lakh litres per day to 1.20 crore litres as there is a huge demand for Nandini products, especially ghee that alone requires 15 lakh litres of milk per day to produce,” he said.
It may be noted here that the price of milk was hiked by Rs 2 in November 2022. A couple of weeks ago, the Bengaluru Milk Union Limited (Bamul) and Mandya Milk Producers Union (Manmul) reduced the procurement price by Rs 1 that triggered a controversy. Following this, Siddaramaiah had intervened and the status quo was maintained.
Elected unopposed
Bheema Naik was elected unopposed in the elections as no others had stood for the coveted post. The new chairman’s tenure will be up to September 2024.
He will succeed Balachandra Jarkholi of the BJP, who held the post for four years, and had to quit due to the new Congress government taking over. Besides, there was also a technical issue that he was not an elected chairman of the KMF. So, he paved the way for Bheema Naik, who is considered as a staunch supporter of Siddaramaiah. Ministers K N Rajanna and K Venkatesh were also present during the election of the new chairman.