Kurien demands high level enquiry into NDDB's affairs

Anand, Mar 20: India's ''Milkman'' Verghese Kurien today demanded a high level inquiry into the affairs of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), charging it with not following the provisions of the Parliament Act.

Announcing his decision to step down as member and chairman of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) here today following a no-confidence move against him, Dr Kurien said, ''under the 1987 Act of Parliament, NDDB was required to follow the cooperative strategy--a stragegy evolved at Anand.'' ''Its policies amount to contempt of Parliament,'' he charged.

He further alleged that there was no CAG or any government audit of the accounts of the NDDB and its half a dozen companies.

''The public has the right to know where and how the public funds of NDDB are being used.'' Reacting to Dr Kurien's attack, NDDB Chairperson Amrita Patel termed all the allegations as ''baseless.'' She claimed that the Board was working as per the cooperative strategy as referred to in the Central Act.

However, Ms Patel said she was saddened that Dr Kurien had resigned as Chairman of the GCMMF, the largest dairy cooperative in the country, in such a manner. ''There is no doubt that he has made invaluable contributions to the growth of India's cooperative diary industry.'' In her brief reaction, the NDDB chairperson said she was confident that the elected representatives of district cooperative union, who constituted the board of GCMMF, would elect a new chairman who would continue to take the federation forward and to greater heights.

Dr Kurien alleged that instead of promoting the Amul Model co-operatives owned by the farmers themselves, NDDB was building its own empire as it wanted to own the dairy. ''They want to control the marketing through their direct and indirect subsidiaries like Mother India Limited, which now markets milk in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad,'' he said and charged that Mother India was a company started by NDDB without the approval of the government.

Referring to the proposed entry of Reliance into dairy business, Dr Kurien said there was absolutely no reason for the dairy cooperatives of Gujarat to be afraid of Reliance's move.

In fact, he said, the dairy cooperatives would emerge more competitive and better equipped to face challenges from any quarters, whether from the internal players or multi-national companies. Dr Kurien said, GCMMF was expected to achieve the highest ever sales growth of 30 per cent this year making Amul a Rs 3,600 crore business, despite huge spending by the NDDB which had entered into direct competition with the Federation in the Ahmedabad market.

When contacted, Amul dairy Chairman Ramsingh Parmar expressed his surprise over Dr Kurien's sudden decision to resign from the GCMMF board. Mr Parmar, a Congress leader, who reportedly campaigned against Dr Kurien's continuance in the board, said he had no inclination about the chairman's move.

Another prominent board member and Mehsana District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union chairman Vipul Chaudhury, however, denied that he was in the race for the post of GCMMF chairman when the board meets on March 24 next.

UNI