Rs 225crore subsidy stuck for lack of dairy farmers’ bank details

Mumbai: The delay in submission of bank account details of dairy farmers in Maharashtra has led to a Rs 225 crore subsidy getting stuck at the government level, said an official from the dairy development department. The state government had decided some months ago to provide a subsidy of Rs 5 per litre of milk to cooperative and private milk producers to convert it into milk powder.

The cooperative societies had already submitted their applications, seeking subsidy from the government but they were asked to prove that the milk purchased by them was cow’s milk supplied by dairy farmers only. To provide the subsidy in a transparent manner, the authorities also asked for the dairy farmers’ bank account details so that the amount could be transferred directly to them, the official said.

He clarified that once bank account details were verified by the authorities, the subsidy amount would be released. The subsidy of Rs 5 per litre of milk is applicable from August 1. Every day, there is an excess milk production of about 10 lakh litres. This goes for milk powder production and entails a daily subsidy of Rs 50 lakh, the official said.

The average monthly dues of milk cooperatives for milk powder production are Rs 150 crore, and so far, dues worth Rs 225 crore have accumulated, he said. “The idea is to bring complete transparency into this system. The government wants to know whether the subsidy amount is actually reaching the farmers or not which is why their bank details have been sought,” he said.

An official from the Kolhapur district cooperative milk society (popularly known as Gokul) said it was a tough job to collect bank details of milk producers, who were mostly small and marginal farmers hardly having access to banks.