Milk procurement price to go up by ₹5 per litre: Coop min

Mysuru: The state government is contemplating increasing the procurement price for milk by Rs 5 per litre, said cooperation minister KN Rajanna on Saturday.At a review meeting of Mysuru region, the minister said that the farmers were facing issues due to high production costs. In an effort to bring down the cost and the competition from neighbouring states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the state government was in discussion with the officials to increase procurement price. A decision on this will be taken soon in the next cabinet meeting.When asked about the possible merger of KMF with Amul, Rajanna said that there was no such proposal with the government and added that Nandini would be further strengthened to compete with private companies.Rajanna also said that the cooperative department would also work towards starting Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies at the village panchayat level to help farmers. The minister also suggested the cooperative department officials take initiatives to open hostels for girl students to facilitate their higher education and added that measures would be taken to open Jan Aushad Kendras by the cooperative department for the benefit of the general public.Speaking about the proposed repeal of the Anti-Cow Slaughter Bill, Rajanna said that there was a need to bring a law that would be beneficial for the farmers and added that you can’t stop or compel a person from consuming non-vegetarian food.Minister takes a dig at HDKKN Rajanna took a dig at H D Kumaraswamy stating that the former CM had no strong evidence against the government in the alleged cash-for-transfer scam. “Just by displaying a mere pen drive, Kumaraswamy cannot prove anything. If the former CM has any proof let him release it in the public domain. By not releasing, is he trying to negotiate a deal?”, he questioned.