Ramakanta Biswas

Bhubaneswar: People in the state will now have to shell out more from their pockets to purchase milk from markets as the Odisha State Cooperative Milk Producers’ Federation Limited (OMFED) has hiked the packaged milk rate by Rs 4 per litre.  The new rate will come into effect from tomorrow.

According to a circular, the decision to hike the milk price was taken after dairy farmers increased the selling price of their produce by Rs 3.

With the new rates coming to effect, consumers will now have to pay Rs 38 per litre of toned milk while premium or gold premium milk will cost Rs 44 per litre. On the other hand, milk retailers will now pay Rs 36.70 per litre for toned milk, Rs 41.75 for premium milk per litre and Rs 40.75 per litre of gold premium.

In accordance with the hike in the rate, the commission of the milk retailers has also increased by Rs 0.25. Besides, the OMFED authorities will deposit Rs 0.10 for agents which will be given to them in terms of compensation under the saving scheme, said OMFED Deputy General Manager (Marketing), Sambit Kumar Patra.

It is worth mentioning here that the government had not modified the rate of Omfed milk since 2014, while such private companies have already increased the rate of milk to Rs 44 per litre.

Recently, State Agriculture Minister Arun Sahoo hinted at enhancing the price of OMFED milk. "Basing on the demand of the dairy farmers and people’s interest, the government is considering an increase in the rate of Omfed milk," Sahoo had said on the sidelines of a workshop on dairy farmers.

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