Maharashtra to hand over control of Mahananda dairy to central government

Maharashtra has previously missed out on several major projects that were awarded to other states, and now it appears that they will also lose control of the profitable Mahananda Dairy to the Central government.

An indication of this effect came from Dairy Development Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, who informed the State Assembly that the state government is unable to run the dairy. So, the Mahananda dairy will be handed over to the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), a statutory body that is under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying and has its main office in Anand (Gujarat).

"We did not want to hand over the Mahananda Dairy to a private trust or company and, therefore, decided to rope in the NDDB. The talks are in the final stage. However, NDDB told us that they will only accommodate 350 Mahananda employees out of the total of 940. Mahananda Dairy is very much in trouble and not even able to pay the salaries of its employees," Patil said in the Assembly during the social discussion on Tuesday.