BENGALURU: Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Saturday said the final decision on hiking the milk price will be taken after holding a discussion in the cabinet.
He said milk unions have sought a hike in milk prices by Rs 12 per litre of which Rs 2 will be allocated to societies. He added that the decision will be made after taking inputs of milk prices in other states, including Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Earlier in the day, the CM held a meeting with the union heads, officials from the Karnataka Milk Federation and BAMUL Chairman DK Suresh. The CM had also held a meeting this week with milk produce unions and farmers on the same issue.
The CM said unions have been facing losses due to the current milk prices. He said there is resentment among farmers over the present milk prices and over 50,000 milk farmers have sought for a hike in prices.
A senior KMF official said, “The demand of farmers and unions to hike the milk price by Rs 10-12 per litre cannot be accepted as the welfare of consumers also needs to be kept in mind. While giving the memorandum to the CM and during meetings it was agreed that 70% of the milk cost will be given to farmers and 30% to unions. Presently, farmers get Rs 35 per litre along with Rs 5 subsidy from the state government. A balance between the demand cost and the supply rate now needs to be drawn.”
The official added that the CM was also uprised of problems faced by North Karnataka milk unions, particularly Kalaburagi, Vijayapura and Belagavi.
There private companies are procuring milk from farmers at a Rs 8-10 per litre higher price than the KMF. This has started to impact the KMF’s and the unions’ milk procurement, the official said.
