Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)

Mangalore, May 5: Raviraj Hegde, president of Dakshina Kannada Milk Producers Union Ltd (DKMUL) said that a new production unit will be set up by the union on the occasion of its silver jubilee celebrations, to meet the increasing demand for its products. He added that the new unit will involve an investment of Rs 20 crore.

Hegde was addressing a press conference at the union’s auditorium in the city on Wednesday May 4.  He revealed that National Dairy Development Board will be providing financial assistance of Rs 15 crore for the unit. “The construction of the unit will be completed in 18 months. Once the unit is set up, for the first time in the state, milk packed in flexi packs having longer shelf life will be released. This milk can be preserved for a month without the need for refrigeration. In all likelihood, this milk may cost four rupees per litre over and above normal milk,” he stated. He revealed that at present, the district unit gets 1.86 litres of milk from its jurisdiction, while the deficit is met by getting milk from Hassan and Mandya unions. There is demand for three lac litres of milk and 45,000 litres of curds in the district,” he informed.

He also requested the government to provide government land to DKMUL, as the 12 acres of land on which it stands now was obtained from the government on lease for 30 years, and that this lease period will end in the next two years.

Silver jubilee celebrations of the union will be organized at the Kulshekhar dairy premises on May 8. The programmes, which will begin at 10.30 am, will be inaugurated by deputy speaker of the state assembly, Yogish Bhat. Ministers, V S Acharya, Krishna J Palemar, Shobha Karandlaje, Karnataka Milk Federation chairman, Somashekhar Reddy, MPs, D V Sadanand Gowda and Nalin Kumar Kateel, and Dakshina Kannada District Central Cooperative Bank chairman, Rajendra Kumar, will participate in the function, he added.

In the valedictory function to be held at 2 pm on that day, minister for cooperation, Lakshman Savadi, animal husbandry minister, Reve Nayak Belamagi, B Nagaraj Shetty, A G Kodgi, MP, B Y Raghavendra, Campco president, Konkodi Padmanabh, KMF managing director, A S Premanath, MLAs and MLCs will participate, he revealed. On this occasion, a dance drama, ‘Punyakoti’ will be presented by Prabhath Artistes, Bangalore, he said.