Post-BBMP Poll Effect: Nandini Milk Prices Go Up by Rs 3 from April 8
From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore, Apr 7: Barely two days after winning 111 out of the 198 seats in the Brhuhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to gain a clear majority for Karnataka’s ruling BJP in the civic body, the B S Yeddyurappa has announced an increase of Rs 3 per litre of Nandini Milk sold all over the state by 13 different milk diaries of Karnataka Milk Federation with effect from Thursday, April 8.
Karnataka Milk Federation Chairman Gali Somashekara Reddy, youngest brother of the all powerful Bellary mining lord ministers Gali Janardhana Reddy and Gali Karunakara Reddy, announced that the subsidy to milk farmers would be increased from the present Rs 2 to Rs 3 per litre of milk.
The increase in the Nandini Milk prices will come into effect from tomorrow itself, Reddy said, indicating that the steep hike in input costs including fodder and other materials made it inevitable to increase the price.
With tomorrow’s increase in Nandini Milk prices by Rs 3 a litre, the normal Nandini milk (in blue sachets) will cost Rs 19 a litre from the present Rs 16 while the low-fat milk (in yellow sachets) will go up from the present Rs 14 to Rs 17 a litre. The prices of all other milk products including curds, butter etc will also be correspondingly increased and the detailed price-list will be announced by evening, Reddy said.
It may be recalled that KMF chairman had been pressing the government for increasing the Nandini milk prices at least by Rs 4 a litre. The chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, who put off taking a decision on increasing the milk prices pending the March 28 BBMP polls and the counting on April 5, has now decided to give the green signal to KMF to announce the increase.
However, when the former KMF chairman H D Revanna and JD(S) floor leader in the state assembly, had mooted a price increase of Rs 2 a litre last year by citing high production costs as the reason, the Yeddyurappa regime had shot down the proposal and contended that the government had released an incentive of Rs 2 a litre to the milk farmers.
It is a different matter that the ruling BJP succeeded in unseating Revanna, elder son of JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda, and installed Somashekara Reddy with the help of government nominees on the board of directors and preventing some of the staunch supporters of H D Revanna from participating in the voting on technical grounds.
Karnataka’s Cooperation Minister Laxman S Savadi, under whose control the KMF comes, had also supported the KMF demand for increasing the Nandini Milk prices presently sold at prices ranging from Rs 16 to Rs 22 a litre depending on the fat content, by pointing out that the milk producing farmers were suffering heavy losses due to increase in the cost of production.
The minister had pointed out that the Nandini Milk prices were last increased by Rs 2 a litre in November 2007 even though the cost of production had increased sharply in the subsequent period.
Milk procurement by the KMF increased 14 % to an average of 36.71 lakh litres a day in April-December 2009 compared with the same period in 2008, when average procurement a day was 32.11 lakh litres. Currently, the procurement is about 33.54 lakh litres a day, about 11 % lower than the average procurement in April-December 2009.
A KMF official said such a decline is ``quite normal, after a period of drought.”
KMF officials say the State can manage the situation because Karnataka has been milk-surplus since 1996. They claim that the State has “excess production” of 5.46 lakh litres of milk a day despite the recent decline in procurement.
Incidentally, Karnataka’s Information, Housing and Bangalore Water Supply & Sewerage Board Minister Katta Subramanya Naidu has already dropped sufficient hints to suggest that the state government was considering a steep hike in the water tariff rates as the BWSSB was incurring a loss of over Rs 36 crore a month.
The Bangalore Energy Supply Company (BESCOM) is also believed to be waiting for the clearance from the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission for increasing the power tariff, which might apply to the entire state because all the other four ESCOMs are also waiting for the KERC approval.
It remains to be seen whether the Yeddyurappa regime, which has already ensured that the prices of almost all essential commodities go up in the state due to the increase in the VAT rates marginally, will show sufficient courage to implement the power tariff hikes even if the KERC were to give its approval in view of the ensuing grama panchayat polls expected to be completed by the end of May.