Vita milk collection reduced to half

CHANDIGARH: The ongoing stir by farmers has brought down the milk collection of the Haryana Dairy Development Co-Operative Federation Ltd - which sells milk and various milk products under the brand name Vita – to around 50% by Monday morning.

As against the routine collection of about 3.8 lakh litre milk, the state dairy development cooperative federation could collect only about 1.45 lakh litre at its six plants in Sirsa, Jind, Rohtak, Ballabhgarh, Ambala and Kurukshetra. Vita is one of the main suppliers of milk and milk products in Haryana with over 45% share in organised sector.

While the Kurukshetra plant deals in cow milk only, it collects only about 10,000 litre milk, the other plants’ collection varies from about 60,000 to 80,000 litre a day.

Federation chief general manager SS Kohli said that the worsthit areas were Sirsa and Jind, which routinely got at least 1 lakh litre. They did not get milk supply at all. It was followed by Ambala where the milk collection was partially hit and came down to 55,000 litre. The Kurukshetra plant supply was also hit. where the collection dipped to 7,000 litre. “However, the milk collection remained normal at remaining two plants at Rohtak and Ballabhgarh,” he added.

Federation chairman GL Sharma, however, maintained the sale of Vita products, such as milk, butter and curd remained unaffected as the federation had adequate quantity of milk powder and butter with which the federation was making milk and other products and selling them.