PM to lay foundation of Rs 473 Cr mega Amul dairy plant in Kashi

Varanasi: Exactly 10 days after inaugurating the Rs 900-crore Kashi Vishwanath Dham (KVD) in the city on December 13, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation of ‘Banas Kashi Sankul’, dairy cooperative Amul’s Rs 475-crore plant in Karkhiyao on Varanasi’s border with Jaunpur on December 23 in a mega boost to the dairy sector in the district as well as surrounding east UP region.

Not only this, the project of the National Dairy Development Board, which had taken over the failed unit of Parag dairy in Ramnagar, to restart the plant using bio-energy with an investment of Rs 19-crore will also be launched by Modi, who will also unveil the logo for milk and allied products being introduced by the animal husbandry department of the Central government.

Talking to TOI on Thursday, district magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma said, “Amul is investing Rs 475-crore to establish a plant for milk processing and other dairy products. Foundation of this project will be laid by the PM remotely at a public meeting from a ground at Karkhiyao near the site of the proposed plant.”

He added, “Amul’s plant in the name of Banas Kashi Sankul is going to be established in 30-acre land and will have a capacity of processing 5 lakh litres of milk per day. Apart from it 50,000 litres of ice cream, 20 metric ton paneer (cottage cheese), 75,000 litres of butter milk, 50 metric ton of curd, 15,000 litres of lassi and 10,000 kg Amul sweets will also be produced at this plant, which will have capacity to expand the production up to 10 lakh litres per day.”

This plant will also include Amul bakery and take home ration plant for producing supplement for women and children.

“The PM will also click the button of the remote for direct bank transfer of Rs 35-crore, which is being paid by Amul to its 1.70 lakh milk suppliers as bonus,” he said, adding, “Amul will also release a book on growth of its products and markets in this region in past seven years.”

“Another major project to boost the dairy sector will be of NDDB,” said the DM, adding, “NDDB is investing Rs 19-crore to operationalise the plant it had taken over from Parag at Ramnagar by forming new committees of farmers and milk producers.”

“This milk processing plant of 2 lakh litres per day capacity will run by generating power from bio-gas plant to be established by NDDB. To run this plant, NDDB will purchase cow dung from farmers. With this, the number of bio-energy generation units will increase to two in the district,” he added.

The PM will also introduce the logo for milk products going to be introduced by the animal husbandry department of the Central government. The portal of the department for certification of milk and allied products will also be operationalised by the PM on this occasion.