Bengaluru, March 27 The Siddaramaiah government on Thursday decided to hike the price of Nandini milk, supplied by the Karnataka Milk Federation, by Rs 4 per litre, after considering the demand of the KMF and farmers’ organisations.
The steep hike has come ahead of the Ugadi festival, celebrated across Karnataka with much fanfare on March 30. The price of coffee, tea and all milk products in hotels and sweet shops is set to rise sharply.
Recently, the state government was criticised for increasing the Metro and RTC bus fares. The government has also revised the power tariff.
The demand for a hike in the milk prices was Rs 5 per litre. However, the government has decided to increase the milk prices by Rs 4.
The most popular blue packet of one litre of Nandini milk now will cost Rs 48, up from Rs 44.
On March 5, the Karnataka government stated that it was set to increase the price of the popular Nandini milk (KMF) in the state. “We will definitely increase the price of milk. A discussion on how much to increase it will be held with the Chief Minister,” Minister for Animal Husbandry K. Venkatesh said in the House during the Question and Answer session in the Legislative Council.
He had also stated that the government owed subsidies amounting to Rs 656.07 crore to milk producers. A total of 9.04 lakh beneficiaries have yet to receive the pending amount. “We have asked the finance department to release the pending funds. Once the department clears the amount, it will be disbursed to the beneficiaries. We will do it soon. Farmers are demanding a hike of Rs 10 per litre. We will definitely increase the price of milk. The quantum of the hike will be decided after discussions with the Chief Minister,” he added.
Milk federations across the state had been seeking a price hike. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had earlier opposed the hike but in Thursday's cabinet meeting gave the approval.
Protests for hiking the milk prices had been going on since February. The Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and Green Brigade have been demanding an increase in the milk procurement price to at least Rs 50 per litre. They also called for an interim support price of Rs 10 per litre until the implementation of a Minimum Support Price (MSP).
The Karnataka government revised the price of milk in the state by Rs 2 on June 25, 2024, with an additional 50 ml of milk added to each packet, which led to criticism.
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