Soon, residents of fishing hamlets such as Nettukuppam in Tiruvallur will be supplied with more Aavin milk.
By mid-August, a Rs. 4.05-crore project to upgrade a packaging facility at Kakkalur into a dairy is expected to be completed.
Residents of areas including Ennore, Minjur, TIruttani, Uthiramerur, Madurantakam and Kancheepuram town will benefit from this facility.
Vanitha J. Desappan of Nettukuppam is thrilled she will soon be able to buy milk from a government depot. “I have been reading news reports on adulteration in milk. Though I buy branded milk ar Rs. 40 a litre, I am not sure how safe it is. Our people have access to a Tasmac shop but not an Aavin outlet. A government milk depot would help homemakers like me,” she said.
Currently, the Tamil Nadu Cooperative Milk Producers Federation supplies just 13,000 litres of milk a day to Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts, as opposed to the 11.35 lakh litres a day supplied to Chennai.
Minister for dairy development, V. Moorthy, who inspected the new plant on Tuesday, said over 90 per cent of the work, including installation of a dairy for pasteurisation of milk, tub-washing machine, cold storage room and a packing plant, was completed.
The Kakkalur facility is presently a filling centre that packs 7,000 litres for Chennai city. After completion of work, the dairy will have the capacity to supply 1 lakh litres of processed milk a day.
Mr. Moorthy urged officials to complete the work on a war footing. Aavin managing director T. K. Ramachandran was also present during the inspection.
