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Milk agents chief challenges Aavin’s procurement figures
Tamil Nadu Milk Agents and Employees’ Welfare Association’s president SA Ponnusamy challenged Aavin Managing Director’s recent announcement of the milk major procuring nearly 31.84 lakh litres on August 22 by stating that the federation was giving wrong figures.
By
migrator
migrator
Chennai
It may be recalled that Aavin MD C Kamaraj announced the above figures on August 23 stating that it was higher than the 31.77 lakh litres procured on August 3 the previous year. However, in reply to Ponnusamy’s RTI enquiry, the federation revealed that procurement through milk farmers on average was 33 lakh litres, of which around 29 lakh litres reached the district unions after deduction for local sales.
Ponnusamy told DT Next that according to Kamaraj’s figures daily procurement increased by a mere 7,000 litres between the dates mentioned against 2016 and 2017.
Stating that giving such contradictory figures was both surprising and absurd, he wondered how the milk major could give lower figures when the RTI revealed that procurement had touched 33 lakh litres in 2016 itself. He said that the federation was trying to create an impression of having achieved an impressive target, but in reality had lost nearly 1.23 lakh litres (33 lakh litres -31.77 lakh litres).
“The federation is giving a wrong impression of having enough milk by opening additional Aavin parlours. Only milk vendors and milk agents would be able to increase milk demand as they were in direct touch with the people,” he added. Referring to the different commission rates for milk in the districts, he said milk vendors would be encouraged to opt for more milk sales only when federation increased commissions which were not touched for the last 15 years.
However, officials countered that the RTI figures were obviously given by the dairy commissioner’s office whereas the federation goes by the milk which reaches the plants. “The figures given out by the MD are those of milk which reaches Aavin after deduction for local sales,” they clarified.
Gearing up for Deepavali with 2 new sweets
Buoyed up by its recent success in retailing sweets, milk major Aavin (Tamil Nadu Cooperative Milk Producers Federation) has plans to introduce two new sweet varieties this Deepavali, officials told DT Next on Friday.
Sources revealed that the federation’s MD had called on the Aavin Ambattur production unit to introduce two new sweet varieties this festive season in a bid to increase the brand’s presence in the segment. Last year, Aavin introduced four sweet varieties including chocolate burfi, cashew cake, cashew halwa and dry fruit delight, all of which were much in demand due to the competitive pricing, packing and availability.
Corporate houses, Metropolitan Transport Corporation and a newspaper chain were the main customers who ordered in bulk, officials added. The orders have resulted in Aavin planning to manufacture nearly 5 tonnes of sweets at an estimated cost of Rs 2 crore.
Officials revealed that the production employees were asked to come to the Aavin head office with samples early next week for the top brass to select the sweets meant for bulk production. While one kilo, half kilo packs are planned, most will weigh a quarter kilo, due to the demand.
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