Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday announced the subsidy given to the milk producers in the state would be hiked to Rs 5 from Rs 4. At present the state government gives a subsidy of Rs 4 per litre to the milk producers.
Speaking at a function organized to celebrate All India Cooperation Week at Ramanagara, the chief minister said the state government has been providing a subsidy of Rs 4 per litre to the milk producers and the government has decided to increase it to Rs 5 in view of the drought conditions in the state. “My government is with farmers. We are ready to respond to the problems of farmers. We have taken the decision to increase the subsidy in response to the farmers’ demand,’’ the chief minister said.
He said the hike in subsidy by one rupee would cost the government exchequer Rs 3.50 crore and the government would not stop subsidy at any cost. “I want the milk producers to utilize this benefit. With this, the production of milk is expected to reach one crore litres in the state. I want Karnataka to overtake Gujarat in milk production. We are already in the first place in silk production,’’ he said.
He said the state government would continue paying honorarium to the secretaries of milk producers’ cooperative societies in the state. “Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru laid the foundation for cooperative movement in the country. The cooperative movement has the potential to wipe out inequality in the society. Earlier, I was minister for animal husbandry and also worked as minister for sericulture. There are 14 district milk producers’ cooperatives in the state. It was me who took the decision to give the right to milk producers to procure and sell milk in the state. The ministries of sericulture and animal husbandry are very dear to me. These are ministries that make farmers self-reliant. As of now, 70 lakh to 72 lakh litres of milk produced daily in the state. Karnataka is in the second place in milk production in the country,’’ he said.
He said the state government has fulfilled more than 120 assurances announced in Congress manifesto during the Assembly elections.
On demonetization, he said that poor, farmers and labourers are facing lot of problems due to the shortage of currency notes. “These hapless people are waiting in the queue in front of banks for currency notes. All these problems are due to lack of preparations before announcing the demonetization. I have already written a letter to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. I am also planning to write a letter to the Governor of Reserve Bank of India,’’ he said.
