Pawar to inaugurate second Banas Dairy plant

Palanpur, Mar 20 (UNI) Union Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar will inaugurate Banas Dairy's Rs 110 crore plant on March 24.

A full size statue of the plant's founder chairman Galbabhai Nanjibhai Patel will also be unveiled the same day. The dairy is the biggest among the four cooperative dairies in the state.

Addressing mediapersons here today, Parthibhai Bhatol, Chairman, Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), who is also Chairman of Banas Dairy, said ''Besides providing job opportunity to over one lakh people in the district, the dairy has helped the rural economy roll fast forward in a backward district, where scarcity, drought and famine are common.'' ''Founded by Galbabhai Patel in 1966, the dairy had an initial capacity of 4,000 litres of milk a day while it is now producing more than 16 lakh litres of milk a day. with an annual turnover of about Rs 1,000 crore.'' Chief Minister Narendra Modi, state Agriculture Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasma and a large number of eminent Palanpuri diamond exporters from Mumbai and abroad will attend the function.

UNI