Nitin Gadkari chaired the meeting on review of working of NDDB

New Delhi: Union Minister for Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSME) and Road Transport and Highways Sh. Nitin Gadkari has called upon National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and Animal Husbandry Department (AHD) of Maharashtra state to make concerted efforts in increasing the per day milk procurement in order to bring the white revolution in districts of Vidarbha and Marathwada. He was addressing a review meeting of NDDB through Google meet platform from Nagpur. Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Sh. Giriraj Singh, Maharashtra state minister for livestock development Sunil Kedar NDDB chairman Dilip Rath were present in the meeting.

Sh. Gadkari said, the per day milk procurement in the Rest of Maharashtra’s districts like Sangli, Kolhapur and Pune is between 20 to 30 lakh liters while it is only 2.16 lakh litre per day in eleven districts of Vidarbha where NDDB have started the milk collection centres. He expected that this performance should be improved in coming days. He also underlined the need for appointing the Artificial Insemination (AI) technicians at village level for breed development of indigenous cows. He told AHD officials and Maharashtra Animal and Fisheries Sciences University (MAFSU) to focus on development of cow breeds like Sahiwal, Gir instead of breeds like jersey. He advised AHD of Maharashtra to take help from Nagpur based MAFSU to set up an AI (Artificial Insemination) laboratory. He also expected the live-stock officers and veterinary officials to work for improving breed of milching animals in the Vidarbha region. Sh. Gadkari also instructed the Nagpur district officials and AHD to use the centrally allocated fund of 106 Crore Rupees for components like Dairy development, fodder development, vaccination etc. Sh. Gadkari stressed upon to increase the milk collection centres in aspirational district like Gadchiroli.

Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Sh. Giriraj Singh, told NDDB and Mother Dairy officials to bring future plans on Ground. He also instructed the NDDB officials to discuss the modalities in fund allocation of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) with the Nagpur district officials. He also instructed AHD of Maharashtra to set the affordable rate of the ‘Sex Sorted Semen’ with use of indigenous technology and technical help from universities like MAFSU. Secretary ,AHD, Government of Maharashtra, Dr Anup Kumar , informed that, the intensive vaccination for foot mouth disease (FMD) in animals will be done from 1st September itself in the state of Maharashtra.

Livestock development Minister of Maharashtra, Sh.Sunil Kedar opined that the farmer and live-stock are at the centre-stage of Maharashtra’s Government policy and State is doing every possible effort with the cooperation from NDDB and Central Government. He also stressed upon the need for marketing of Mother Dairy products.

Sh.Nitin Gadkari also ask Sh.Giriraj Singh to look into the demand for placement of State Owned Nagpur Orange Growers Association (NOGA) products in the booths Mother dairy of Nagpur city. He told NDDB officials to add the orange concentrations and orange peeling from NOGA to enhance the flavour of Mawa Santra Barfi made by the Mother Dairy.

NDDB chairman Dilip Rath told about the achievements of NDDB and Mother Dairy in the Vidarbha region. He also informed that the Wardha’s famous Goras-Pak biscuits which are made from cow’s clarified butter, honey and wheat flour will be commercially launch by Mother Dairy in coming days.

The officers from NDDB and AHD, Nagpur District Administration were present in this meeting.