Amul elections: Shamal Patel to continue as GCMMF chairman

Shamal Patel was re-elected as the chairman of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), the umbrella body of milk cooperatives in Gujarat which owns the brand Amul, Tuesday.

Valamji Humbal was also elected as the GCMMF vice-chairman for the second time in the election that took place in Anand in presence of the heads of all the district cooperative milk unions. The election comes just a couple of weeks after the Board of Directors of GCMMF abruptly ended the services of its Managing Director, RS Sodhi. According to sources, Sodhi was removed after intervention by the BJP, which all the chairmen of 18 district cooperative milk unions ( all members of GCMMF) are affiliated to.

The sources within GCMMF said that the two leaders were unanimously elected, and it was thus just a formality after the BJP issued a mandate regarding the elections that were being held after a gap of 2.5 years.

The election conducted by Deputy Collector of Anand saw Ashok Chaudhary, chairman of Dudhsagar Dairy in Mehsana formally nominate Shamal Patel, while Ramsinh Parmar, chairman of Kaira Milk Union supported it. Similarly, the name is Valamji Humbal was proposed by Mansinh Patel, the chairman of Surat Milk Union, an official release from GCMMF stated.

Shamal Patel, who is also the chairman of Sabarkantha District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union — which has annual sales of over Rs 6,800 crore — , and Humbal, who heads Sarhad Dairy in Kutch — has turnover over Rs 850 crore — were elected as GCMMF chairman and vice-chairman respectively for the first time in July 2020.

After being re-elected, Shamal Patel said it was a matter of “great honour to lead an institution like the federation which was founded by V Kurein”, and dairy cooperatives have been successful since last seven decades due to high values and standards set by its founders Tribhuvandas Patel and V Kurein.