Banglar Dairy: Procurement of milk rises from 40,000 litre to 1L litre daily after state revises rate

Kolkata: The procurement of milk for Banglar Dairy has seen a significant increase since April 1 after the Mamata Banerjee government started offering an enhanced procurement rate of Rs 34 per litre, up from Rs 31 to milk farmers.

"In seven days, we have procured 1 lakh litre of milk daily on an average, up from 40,000 litres daily in the last fiscal 2021-22. So, the added incentive offered to milk farmers is already showing positive results," a senior official of the Animal Resources Development (ARD) department said.

The enhanced procurement rate offered to milk farmers is an outcome of the state government's decision to raise the incentive from Rs 4 to Rs 7. More than 70,000 milk farmers across the state are being benefitted because of this.

The consumer's price of milk and milk products of all other brands have increased, except the state government's products under the Banglar Dairy brand. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had instructed the Animal Resources Development (ARD) department not to increase the consumer's price of milk, to avoid this price hike burden on common people, especially after the Covid pandemic.

A one litre packet of double toned milk is sold by Banglar Diary at Rs 40 while the price of all other brands are sold at Rs 44 a litre at least. The full cream milk which is priced at Rs 60 per litre for other brands, is Rs 54 a litre at Banglar Dairy.

Furthermore, a loose variety of milk has also been made available from 125 outlets in Kolkata and its suburbs like Howrah, Hooghly, North & South-24 Parganas; and is sold at an MRP of Rs 17 per half-litre.

It was in August last year when Banerjee had announced the formation of the state's own brand Banglar Dairy and after completing all necessary formalities it was rolled out in November.

The department is also planning an awareness campaign through radio so that more and more people are aware of the pocket-friendly price of Banglar Dairy milk when compared with other brands.

There are 540 stalls of Banglar Dairy, including in almost all government hospitals located in and around Kolkata. Milk products like yogurt, lassi, ghol, paneer, ghee etc are also being sold from the outlets.

"The Banglar Dairy is surely a major boost to the Mamata Banerjee government's constant efforts to provide food security and fight malnutrition in Bengal by providing one of the most essential, healthy, daily required commodities to all at the cheapest price," the official said.