Rajkot Allots 100 acres To GCMMF For Milk Processing Plant

The District Land Valuation Committee (DLVC) of Rajkot finalized a proposal on Thursday to allot 100 acres to the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) for a proposed dairy plant in Dhandhani village on the city's eastern outskirts. The proposal has now been sent to the state government for final approval. 

The decision comes months after the dairy federation, which markets dairy products under the brand name Amul, turned down a government offer of 70 acres in the Navagam village, citing unaffordability of the land valuation. 

The DLVC, headed by Rajkot district collector Arun Mahesh Babu, met on Thursday to finalize parcels of land to be allotted to GCMMF and to suggest the per-square-meter price of land to be levied to the dairy major. "The committee recommended the land rate and resolved to forward the proposal to the SLVC (state land value committee) for approval. The final decision on the tariff would be made by the state government," Babu added. 

The district administration has granted GCMMF land in the revenue jurisdictions of Dhandhani and Gadhka village for the latter's Rs.500 crore milk processing plant. The projected factory will have a processing capacity of 30 lakh litres of milk per day (llpd) and will manufacture all Amul milk-based products. 

The DLVC's decision to allocate land in Dhandhani village on the Rajkot-Bhavnagar state highway comes months after GCMMF rejected the district administration of 70 acres in Navagam-Anandpar villages on the Rajkot-Ahmedabad highway.  

"The government offered us Rs.7000 per square meter for land in Anandpar. We can't afford to buy property at such a high price since the land may have cost around Rs.400 crore at that price, but our entire budget for the proposed project is around Rs.500 crore. As a result, we had to reject that offer," Valamji Humbal, vice-chairman of GCMMF added, “We are happy to learn that the district-level committee has cleared the proposal. But for us, the most important aspect is the rate at which the government offers us the land.” 

The GCMMF is a federation of 18 district cooperative milk producer unions. It can process 390 lakh litres of milk per day through a chain of 84 milk processing units located across the country. The remainder of these milk processing plants with the exception of one in Gandhinagar, are owned by member unions.

The federation intends to build a second plant in Rajkot to serve dairy farmers in the Saurashtra-Kutch region. The plant will also help the dairy federation save money on transportation and improve product quality, according to GCMMF officials.