A full-scale slanging match is raging between the dairy cooperative giant Gujarat cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) and its member union Mehsana Dairy. Earlier the latter’s vice-chairman Jala Desai had accused GCMMF of directionlessness and following a policy that hampered capacity utilization of dairies set up by the North Gujarat based union.
The professional issues have unfortunately got politicized. Mehsana Dairy’s Vice- Chairman Jalaben Desai has sent Indian Cooperative the letter accusing GCMMF Managing Director R S Sodhi of making the cooperative behemoth directionless. In his response Mr Sodhi has explained how a professional issue is being politicized and dismisses it as a ploy to digress from the main issue. We publish below the letter written by Mrs Desai to R S Sodhi.
To,
The Managing Director,
Gujarat Co. Op. Milk Marketing Federation Ltd.
Anand
Sub: About the utilisation of capacity of the Dudhmotisagar and Dudhmansagar of the Mehsana Sangh and about the milk procurement co-operative policy of the G. C. M. M. F. (Gujarat Milk Marketing Federation) in Rajasthan Haryana.
Shri Sodhiji,
Our earlier letters dated 20-9-2013 and 8-10- 2013, respectively were addressed and sent to the members of the Regulatory board and the members of the Programming Committee. However, instead of tabling these letters in the meeting of the Federation Board for discussion, in spite of such a meeting having taken place, you have expressed your personal opinions and by making them public you are trying to mislead the milk producers of the Mehsana Dairy. This is what one can see clearly from your letter.
From your reply to our letter addressed to the Programming committee it seems that instead of trying to understand the subject and the objective of our letter you are aiming at trying to prove the decisions of the Mehsana Sangh as wrong and to mislead the milk producers of Mehsana by trying to create wrong impressions and misunderstandings in their minds.
Through your letters you are trying to state that the administrators of Mehsana Dudhsagar Dairy are not good and that the investment is overly disproportionate with the quantity of milk. This has necessitated a response to you from us through this letter.
(1) The objective of the late Dr. Kurien, when there was not a liter of milk of its own with the Federation, to establish a mother dairy, was to provide high quality milk to the citizens of Ahmedabad. Today, when the Ahmedabad and the Gandhinagar Sanghs are actively in business is it not necessary to make them self reliant and make the benefits of a developing market available to them? Why should an additional investment of Rs. 500 crore be made for making powder, butter and ghee instead of helping these sanghs achieve that objective?
The Gujarat government, in the past was running the Gujarat Dairy Development Corporation and the Central government at present is running the NDDB. In the same fashion, is your Federation a mother dairy development federation or a market federation?
(2) An amount of Rs. 150 Crore was invested to make plastic bottles. However, the question is: was any member Sangh consulted or taken in confidence before this decision? Why are you taking such decisions instead of trying to strengthen an associated member union (sangh)?
(3) When Dr. Kurien set up the factory to make rolls for plastic bottles, good quality film was not available in the market. However, today, when better quality and cheap film is available in the market, what is the necessity of making an additional investment of Rs. 50 crore to expand the factory? Whose money is it, anyways? Why is aid from the NDDB not obtained through Amrutaben for this investment? Is the federation basically a federation for production or for marketing? That it is the latter is being progressively forgotten.
If the plastic bags are of good quality then why the member sanghs are being pressurized to use the film?
(4) Dr. Kurien had bought railway tankers and road tankers from the money of the Government of India in order to save the milk producers from the burden of such costs. He had put in place a system for transportation of milk that was suitable to member sanghs. Today, why did you have to buy railway tankers at the cost of crores of rupees which is being borne by the milk producers? Is our federation a milk marketing federation or is it a milk transporting federation?
(5) The NDDB of the Government of India provides credit for the development of all dairies in the country. Now, it is being heard that our federation is going to aid several dairies in the form of interest to their investment. Why do we have to do this? Are we a milk marketing federation or a federation providing credit interest relief?
(6) It seems that after the departure or Dr. Kurien the federation has become directionless. It clearly appears from your attitude that even after so many years since the British are gone they have kept here the officials who practice their policy of ‘divide and rule’. The former MD practiced such a policy. Is he now working for the co-operative sector or the private sector? Your letter creates the impression that just like a managing director of a multinational company thinks only about his company, you too are thinking only about the ‘company’. Your letter does not convey any concern or thinking about the interests of the milk producers or of about the co-operative activity of milk.
(7) How did you get to reach the post which you are holding today? Was this post advertised and you got it after being interviewed by a committee of the board? Or were you elected to the post like we were? We have heard that you appointment was made through a circulating resolution and the Dudhsagar Dairy was not a party to your appointment. So, are taking a revenge on the Dudhsagar Dairy for the same? Why are you objecting to and raising undue questions about the residential provision by the Dudhsagar Dairy to its MD, near the Janakpuri office of the Federation which is also in the vicinity of the Ministry of Agriculture. Your salary, dear sir, may be Rs. 1.25 crore per annum but our MD does not draw even a fifth of that amount as salary.
(8) You ask as to why the Dudhsagar Dairy has obtained an office in Ahmedabad. In that case, dear sir, please think and inform us about why our founding Chairman, the late Mr. Mansinhbhai Patel would have obtained the Ahmedabad marketing office, which houses the Federation today, and the Mumbai Fort office. These offices in Ahmedabad and Mumbai were taken from us and are today valued in crores of rupees. Are you prepared to return them to us?
(9) The Banas dairy, without the investment of even a single rupee is daily selling eight lakh liter milk in Ahmedabad through the medium of the mother dairy of the federation, seven lakh liter in the markets of Delhi and NCR through the medium of any factory
(10) You are marketing milk in the whole country and the world but would you have been able to daily sell the 25 lakh liter milk that you are doing today in the Delhi market without the Dudhsagar dairy’s venture of sending the tasty and fragrant milk of the Mehsani buffalo all the way to Delhi? Why are you not selling milk in the same quantity elsewhere? When you are new to a city you might rent a house for dwelling but we cannot understand as to why we should continue living in a rented place even after acquiring a house of one’s own.
If you do not wish to co-operate with our Dharuheda dairy and utilize its capacity then do you wish that we request the mother dairy of the Indian government which sells milk in greater quantity than you just like the Ahmedabad sangh did the pecking of the mother dairy of the Indian government?
(11) Sir, when during your interviews inquire and ask questions to our animal-breeders about the cost of animal feed and the rise in the price of milk you sound like the secretary of our Palodar society. In stead of that if you tells us about what you are directly related with, that is, about what positive changes we made in the milk provided by us to our customers in the country and abroad and what technology changes have taken place or what changes you effected upon regarding quality of the products in Delhi and Mumbai dairies, then, in our opinion you would look better as the MD of the Federation.
(12) The Dudhsagar Dairy was the number one dairy in the country even before I became the Vice Chairperson and when we are attempting to make it number one dairy in the world by achieving a turnover of more than Rs. 10,000 crore, why have you started this activity of misleading our milk producers? Similarly, our Federation was the number organization in the country even before you became the MD. And if you wish to make it the top dairy organization in the world then you will have to first think about the Dudhsagar dairy.
(13) There are some who are not the employees of the federation and the employees of other Sanghs who are not even graduates. You not only take them to trips to the United States but also give them money for their shopping. Whose money is it, anyway? Can we take employees thus associated with us to foreign trips?
(14) The Federation has not paid a single rupee for the cattle feed provided to the drought-hit milk producers of Maharashtra on humanitarian grounds. In the light of this where is the question of distrust? Even this was provided on humanitarian ground following the request made by the chairman of Maharashtra Federation, Mahananda. In this function the chairman of the Federation and chairmen of several sanghs, as well as some high officials of some sanghs were present then why are you trying to escape from your responsibility? Do you know that in our federation votes are counted only on the basis of the quantity of milk provided?
(15) The late Dr. Kurien, through the NDDB, designed projects for the development of the dairy industry, for improving the quality of breeding and for enhancing productivity and incurred costs accordingly. Now, why do you have to undertake same kind of projects and spend crores of rupees? Why did the Federation need to do the work of the NDDB?
(16) As an organization concerned with marketing, it is the duty of the Federation to introduce new products in the market and to give customer-friendly products. ‘Amul Moti’ is a milk product that can last for three months at any normal temperature. For a normal customer, ‘Amul Moti’ is better because it can be sold for 24 hours. Moreover, ‘Amul Moti’ milk was launched by the Managing Director Mr. Sodhi, in other words, by you. Have you forgotten this fact? It is necessary to identify and understand the market of milk products. Are the officials not able to think about such simple matters assigned the work of marketing operations?
(17) Following the Amul pattern, the Mehsana sangh is procuring milk by conducting extensive surveys in villages and creating a system. Now, private cooling centers as taken on rent for this milk. The owners are small businessmen and the sangh gets the work of cooling of the milk through them. Due changes have been made from time to time. Now, though you were present in the function of the Kadi cooling center, you have criticized it. Aren’t ashamed of such an act?
What is wrong to plan in advance about the need of milk to utilize the capacity of the Manesar and Dharuheda dairies?
By making wrong statements such as that the procuring prices of the milk of Rajasthan have been less than the rates paid to the milk producers of Mehsana last year you are trying to mislead the milk producers of Mehsana and directly breaking the milk co-operative activity of the Mehsana sangh which has been going on strongly for more than 50 years.
(18) You say that the procurement of milk has increased by 18 per cent during 2012-13, against which the sales have increased by 11 per cent. This is exactly the reason why the stock at the end of the year increased. Now, in order that the milk producers who could give milk the last year but cannot do so in the present year do not make losses, the Sabar dairy, Sumul dairy and Dudhsagar dairy were forced to pay an additional amount to them.
In such circumstance caused by the glut of milk stocks the Federation must preserve the stocks in its godowns and 90 per cent of the due amount is paid in advance to the Sangh then it would not be compelled to try and sale such huge stock in the market. In this regard, should not the Federation think on the line of building its own godowns?
To term an investment made with a long term view as ‘unnecessary’, to present the matter of the price-rise in a twisted manner, to spread misunderstandings among the milk producers to mislead them and thereby to break their trust. Such actions make one wonder whether the world renowned structure of the dairy co-operative would become stronger or break down? One also wonders about whom you want to help by causing such harm to the milk co-operative business of the Mehsana sangh.
(19) The entire co-operative structure be it the milk producer, society, Sangh or Federation must perform their duties at every level sincerely is what is expected and is what is in the interests of the milk producers.
In the New Year, instead of trying to prove or disprove this or that if we resolve to act in the accordance of the original principle of ‘No prosperity without co-operation,’ and work with cooperation for marketing it would yield good fruits to the milk producers. The details of your letter are tantamount to an intentional attempt at creating misunderstandings among the milk producers of Mehsana.
Jalaben Desai
(Vice-Chairman)