Aavin milk price hike aimed at promoting private players: Annamalai

COIMBATORE

The continued price hike by Aavin is to make the firm non-competitive in a bid to promote private players, said K. Annamalai, BJP State president.

“The hike of ₹12 per litre for orange Aavin milk packets has resulted in sales dipping by 5,000 litre. People have moved to milk supplied by private companies. Then, the DMK government hiked the price of ghee and was trying to find an escape route by comparing the price of Amul ghee in Gujarat. In Gujarat, the State government pays back 82% of the profit to dairy farmers, but in Tamil Nadu, the government gives only 40%,” he said.

It is the systematic plan of the DMK government to weaken Aavin in a bid to promote private players, especially a firm owned by a DMK functionary, Mr. Annamalai said, and added that if the DMK dares, he would release the name of the DMK functionary and the firm in the next press meet.

On the DMK government’s decision of not using any farmland in Annur and Mettuppalayam taluks for the TIDCO industrial park, Mr. Annamalai said the State government had originally notified 3,682 acres of land and had now scaled it down to 1,630 acres of land. The land acquisition was only for the water and not for the land, he said.

On the controversy over Edappadi K. Palaniswami not attending the swearing in ceremony of the Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr. Annamalai said Mr. Palaniswami could not make it to the swearing in owing to personal commitments and had wished the Chief Minister through a letter.