MANDI: Ahead of much-hyped  Prime Minister Narendra Modi's  kicking off  of the Yuva Vijay Sankalp rally at Mandi on Saturday,  Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur today inaugurated the Rs 16.32 Crore  Milkfed Plant Chakkar in Balh area of Mandi district today which would increase its capacity to over 50,000 litres. 

He said that this plant would process milk in a semi-automatic way, which would provide a facility of procurement of more milk from the farmers. 

Addressing a public meeting at Chakkar, Jai Ram Thakur said the HP Milkfed collected about 395 lakh liters of milk from 47,295 farmers of the State during the year 2021-22 and Rs 110.56 crore was provided to the farmers.

He said that milk was one of the most important sources of income to the farmers of the State. During the tenure of the present State Government, the purchase of milk has increased by 78 per cent, that is, from 219.00 lakh liters in the year 2017-18 to 395.39 lakh liters in the year 2021-22. 

The total turnover of Himachal Pradesh Milk Federation in the year 2017-18 was Rs.99 crore which has increased to Rs.172 crore in the year 2021-22, he added.

Chief Minister said that during the present government, an unprecedented increase of Rs.9 was made in the price of milk purchased from farmers, from Rs.22.90 per liter in the year 2017-18 to Rs.31.90 per liter in the year 2022-23.

He said that the commission of milk societies was increased from 4.5 per cent to 5 percent and the Milk Federation was paying the best price to the milk producers in the country.  

Jai Ram Thakur said that Milkfed today has 11 Milk Processing Plants, one Cattle Feed Plant and one Powder Plant functioning in the State. 

With the commissioning of Milk Plant Chakkar (Mandi), the daily capacity of milk plots has increased from 100000 litres to 130000 litres. He said that another Milk Processing Plant of 50,000 litres capacity was under construction in Duttnagar, of which 70 percent work has been completed.

He said that this plant would facilitate about thousands of farmers from Mandi, Kullu and other districts.

Chief Minister said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would visit Mandi town tomorrow, which shows his benevolence towards the State and its people.

He said that the Prime Minister has sanctioned a Bulk Drug Pharma Park for the State even before his visit to the State.

This was a befitting reply to those who alleged that the Prime Minister has given nothing to the State, he added.  

He said that a special assistance of Rs 800 crore was provided by the Prime Minister to the State, besides sanctioning developmental projects worth over Rs. 10,000 crore for the State. 

Jai Ram Thakur said that the opposition leaders were perturbed by the decision of the State Government to organize 75 events to thank the people of the State for their contributions over these years to make Himachal Pradesh as one of the frontrunner States of the country in matter of development.

He said that the slogan of the BJP Government regarding changing the tradition was also not going well with the Congress leaders. He said that this tradition has changed throughout the country and now it was the turn of Himachal Pradesh to do so.

Chief Minister announced the opening of ITI in the upper area of Balh and two veterinary hospitals at Balt and Sadhayani provided they fulfill all the norms.

He also urged the Chief Minister to open one ITI at Balh. He also detailed various developmental demands of the area.

Chairman MILKFED Nihal Chand Sharma  said  presently, the daily capacity of the Milk Processing Plot at Chakkar was 20,000 litres and about 50,000 to 60,000 litres of milk was being collected daily in this processing plant.