Milma calls cross-border milk sale by state federations unethical; resents Nandini entry into Kerala
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Kerala Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (KCMMF), known by the brand Milma, has termed as "unethical" the tendency of some state milk marketing federations to aggressively enter markets outside their respective states.
Criticising the Karnataka Milk Marketing Federation (KMF) for opening its outlets in parts of Kerala to sell its Nandini brand of milk and other products, Milma said that this involved a total breach of cooperative spirit based on which the country's dairy sector has been organized for the benefit of millions of dairy farmers.
"Of late, there has been a growing tendency on the part of some of the state milk marketing federations to market their staple products outside their respective domain. This grossly violates the federal principles and co-operative spirit based on which the country's dairy co-operative movement has been built and nurtured by pioneers like Tribhuvandas Patel and Dr Verghese Kurien", Milma Chairman K S Mani said in a statement here.
He noted that the move of Amul to promote its staple products in Karnataka has been met with strong resistance from the stakeholders in that state.
"But Karnataka Milk Marketing Federation recently opened its outlets in parts of Kerala to sell its Nandini brand of milk and other products. How could this be justified? Whoever does this, it is a highly unethical practice which defeats the very purpose of India's dairy movement and harms the interests of the farmers," Mani said.
This trend will only lead to unhealthy competition among states, which needs to be reined in with the Union and state governments coming together to evolve a consensus, Mani said.
As per the prevailing agreement and courteous business relations existing among milk co-operatives, cross-border marketing of liquid milk shall be avoided as it amounts to blatant encroachment of the sale area of the respective state, he said.
Such practices from any side will jeopardize the spirit of co-operative principles that have been nurtured for long by mutual consent and goodwill, Mani said.
The tendency to enter the markets outside one's domain by opening sales outlets or roping in franchisees should be avoided. Initially, they sell only value-added products, then start selling liquid milk also and subsequently begin shop-to-shop distribution of milk.
Eventually, they will seek to capture markets outside their respective area, taking advantage of the state-to-state variations in price and production cost, the Milma chairman said.
Though the input cost in the dairy sector in Kerala is much higher compared to other states, Milma passes on 83 per cent of its turnover to dairy farmers through the cooperative societies in its network.
Also, the bulk of Milma's surplus is given to the farmers as an additional incentive on milk price and subsidy on cattle feed as the well-being of the dairy farmers is its prime concern.
Considering these stark realities, it is in the best interest of dairy co-operative federations of various states that they refrain from plans to open sales outlets or make franchisee arrangements to sell liquid milk and other staple products outside the respective state, Mani added.
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Traffic fraud: Fake 'no-entry' sticker racket busted in Delhi, mastermind among 3 held
New Delhi (PTI): Police here have busted a crime syndicate involved in traffic fraud and extortion, arresting three people including the alleged mastermind who sold fake stickers to help commercial vehicles bypass no-entry restrictions, an official said on Saturday.
The police said they dismantled a third organised syndicate linked to traffic-related frauds, with the arrest of Rinku Rana alias Bhushan, his associate Sonu Sharma and Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, who was also connected to another extortion syndicate.
According to the police, Rinku Rana was running a well-organised network that facilitated the movement of commercial goods vehicles during restricted hours by selling fake 'marka' or stickers for Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per vehicle every month. The stickers were falsely projected as authorisation to evade traffic challans.
During raids, the police recovered Rs 31 lakh in cash, property documents worth several crores of rupees, over 500 fake stickers and six mobile phones allegedly used to operate the syndicate.
The crackdown followed a complaint filed by a traffic police officer in April this year after a commercial vehicle tried to evade checking by producing a fake sticker claiming exemption from enforcement action.
Investigation revealed that social media groups were being used to coordinate the illegal movement of vehicles and alert drivers about traffic police checkpoints, police said.
"A parallel system was being run to cheat drivers and vehicle owners while undermining traffic enforcement. On the basis of evidence, provisions related to organised crime under the BNS were invoked," a senior police officer said.
Sonu Sharma, the police said, managed social media groups through which stickers were sold and real-time alerts were circulated regarding traffic police movement. He also acted as a link between Rana and drivers operating in the field.
In a related development, Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, an associate of Rajkumar alias Raju Meena, who was earlier arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), was also apprehended.
Mukesh allegedly helped extort money from transporters and was involved in blackmailing traffic police personnel by recording enforcement actions, the police said.
Investigators alleged the syndicate led by Rajkumar deployed drivers to deliberately violate traffic rules and secretly record police officials during challans, later using manipulated videos to extort money under threat of false allegations.
The police said that in total, eight accused belonging to three different organised crime syndicates linked to traffic frauds and extortion have been arrested so far.
Further investigation is underway to trace the remaining members, conduct financial probes, and analyse digital evidence recovered during the raids, officials added.
