Bihar to augment milk processing capacity

PATNA: Bihar ranks eighth in milk production in the country and has a capacity of processing 10.60 lakh litres of milk daily. In order to augment its capacity,Bihar government has prepared a comprehensive plan for the next five years.

Replying to a question of Neeraj Kumar (JD-U), animal husbandry minister Giriraj Singh said in the pre-lunch session of Bihar legislative council that the department has prepared its five-year plan with a budget of Rs 447.28 crore.

The minister also said that Bihar’s Confederation of Milk Producers’ Federation (Compfed) produced surplus milk. “As a result of surplus production, we cater to the needs of people living in places like Delhi, Gurgaon, Guwahati and Kolkata,” he said.

The minister admitted that due to prolonged traffic jams, breakdown of milk tankers and bandh calls, sometimes the regular supply chain of milk gets disrupted in various parts of the country. “As a result, we had to suspend milk supply for 15 days from Mithila Milk Producers’ Federation and for four days from the Barauni federation,” the minister said. The department was in the process of buying more milk tankers to meet emergency situations, he said.

The minister also said that plan for setting up a dairy plant at Dehri-On-Sone has been okayed. It would have a capacity of processing one lakh litres of milk per day and would start production in March next year, he said.

The government was committed to expand its infrastructure for augmenting the milk processing capacity in the state, the minister said.