On May 25, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin sent a letter to Union Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah pleading with him to order Gujarat-based dairy cooperative Amul to stop obtaining milk from the Aavin milk shed. “It has been a norm in India to let cooperatives thrive without infringing on each other’s milk-shed area,” Stalin said in a letter to Amir Shah, pleading with the Union Minister to step in and defend Aavin.
The change follows the debate in Karnataka around Amul’s entry into the market of the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) and the ramifications for its renowned brand, “Nandini.
Stalin stated that the state government had recently learned that the Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union (Amul) in Vellore had installed chilling centres and a processing plant in the Krishnagiri district using their multi-state cooperative licence, with plans to purchase milk from the districts of Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupathur, Kancheepuram, and Tiruvallur using self-help groups and farmer producer organisations.
Stalin highlighted his worry about the impact of unhealthy competition between Amul and Aavin will have on farmers reliant on the milk cooperative run by the Tamil Nadu government. According to Stalin, 33 lakh gallons of milk are produced per day by Aavin’s 4.5 lakh pouring members around the state.