‘Goa Dairy Bachao’ panel formed; farmers claim mismanagement
the goan I network
PANAJI
The farmers allege a number of wrongdoings in Goa Diary, which in their opinion has crippled this co-operative organisation.
Shivanand Bakre, a dairy farmer from Sankhali, said, “Goa Dairy is not suitably compensating the dairy farmers. They had increased the selling price of milk by Rs 4 per litre in March, but didn’t give anything extra to the farmers.”
Bakre continued, “Goa Dairy is operating the cattle-feed plant in Usgao, which is running
into losses. This plant should be managed by the animal husbandry department and that alone will increase the profits of Goa Dairy.”
The dairy farmers also alleged that the profit margin of Goa Dairy is constantly falling due to the mismanagement on the part of current board of directors. Meanwhile, it
is also reported that the current board of directors were elected unopposed on January 29 this year.
To this Bakre replied, “Many dairy farmers had filled forms to contest the elections in January, but their forms were rejected due to some rule or the other. Due to this, we approached the tribunal court. The court has ruled that elections will happen again, and that’s why we have formed this panel.”
The elections to BOD of Goa Dairy will be held on May 7. The protesting dairy farmers also alleged that Goa Dairy is paying really high salaries to its staff, which is also a drain on the
dairy’s resources.
Bakre said, “Goa Dairy has 400 staff and its salary bill is Rs 1.2 crore month for milk procurement amounting to 600 litres per day. We have visited 2-3 dairies in Maharashtra, which have a staff strength of just 40-50 and are running in profits.” Bakre further said that the current board of directors are not even milk farmers in
many cases.
Goa Dairy Bachao Panel’s candidates for the upcoming elections are: Furtado Aselmo, Gaonkar Fondu, Gaonkar Mhalgo Kusdo, Ga
onkar Vijaykant, Parab Vaibhav, Pilarnkar Vinayak Poko, Prabhugaonkar Nitin, Satarkar Lala Anant, Sawant Dattaram Yeshwant, Shirodkar Durgesh, Sidhaye Pramod Vasudev and Sukhtankar Vishwas.
‘Certified corrupts’ attempting to become directors: Sahakari
PONDA: Rejecting the allegations levelled against his panel by the rival group, Goa Dairy chairman Madhav Sahakari said he was ready to face any enquiry.
Addressing a news conference in the city on Friday, Sahakari said the persons levelling allegations against them are responsible for bringing SUMUL in Goa. “Our business in Goa Dairy is very clear and transparent. ‘Certified corrupts’ are trying to become directors,” he alleged.
“Our 12-member group is ready for elections and everyone knows that we can deliver. We will take Goa Dairy to greater heights, if elected,” he said.
“We have worked for the betterment of the farmers and Goa Dairy. Hence, we have no tensions to face any type of investigation,” he reiterated.
“We have some programmes for Goa Dairy, which will be implemented once elected,” said Sahakari.
“The special auditors also checked for any manipulation and illegalities and they found nothing. Now, we are ready for investigation. Punish us if we are found guilty,” Sahakari added.
Sahakari said he was stressing to increase the milk production in Goa and it would be his goal in future too.
