Chairman of the House Committee Umesh Chandra Swain in Visakhapatnam on Thursday.

VISAKHAPATNAM: The functioning of Sri Vijaya Visakha Cooperative Dairy (Visakha Dairy) has impressed the Orissa Legislative Committee on Cooperatives.

``Visakha Dairy looks like reaching its target of five lakh litres milk production soon. It is a good competition to Anand Dairy.

Visakha Dairy will be a good example to all cooperative dairies in the country,'' Orissa Legislative Committee Chairman Umesh Chandra Swain observed here on Thursday.

He along with other members — Sashi Bhusan Behara, Ramranjan Baliarsingh, Rajnikanta Singh and Dharmanand Behera — visited the dairy and a few of its primary milk cooperative societies and the ultra-modern Krushi Hospital being run by the dairy, and interacted with the farmers supplying milk to the dairy.

They met Visakha Dairy Managing Director N. Venkata Rao and other directors.

Range of products

Noting that the dairy with its modern equipment was producing a variety of products, the committee members appreciated its welfare activities, like supplying subsidised cattle feed, low interest loans to purchase cattle, good purchase price to farmers, ex gratia to the families of farmers who die, schools and colleges, medical centres, veterinary clinics, providing roads and water sources, eliminating exploitation of farmers through a joint account system and creating employment to the children of farmers.

``The selling price of milk (Rs.15 a litre) is slightly higher when compared to dairies in other States, but the welfare activities are unparalleled.

Even Anand Dairy is not taking up welfare programme on such a large scale.

Providing loans to purchase cattle is also unique to this dairy,'' Mr. Swain said.

The dairy has shown that a cooperative institution could be successfully run only through an elected body, whereas the governing body of the Orissa Milkmen Cooperative Federation, an organisation that had direct control over all the primary cooperative societies in that State, had been dissolved six years ago, the members said.

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