Kolkata: Amul formally initiated a ₹700 crore dairy processing project in West Bengal on 19 July, with the proposed facility expected to house what the Union government describes as the world’s largest curd manufacturing plant.
Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah performed the bhoomi pujan for the Amul Bengal Dairy Project during a ceremony at the New Town Convention Centre in Kolkata.
The dairy facility itself will be established at the Howrah Food Park on 30 acres of land provided to the Amul Federation by the West Bengal government.
Once fully operational, the project will be capable of processing around 30 lakh litres of milk every day. It will have a proposed daily capacity of approximately 1,000 metric tonnes, or 10 lakh kilograms, of curd and other cultured dairy products.
According to the Ministry of Cooperation, the scale of the proposed cultured-products facility would make it the world’s largest curd manufacturing plant.
In the first phase, the project will process around 10 lakh litres of milk per day and is expected to benefit approximately 1.20 lakh small milk producers and livestock rearers.
The facility’s proposed daily production capacity includes 10 lakh litres of packaged milk, two lakh litres of ultra-high-temperature milk and one lakh litres of ice cream.
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It will also be capable of producing 20 metric tonnes of paneer, 10 metric tonnes of ghee, 10 metric tonnes of sweets and around 2.5 lakh packs of flavoured milk every day.
The project is expected to expand milk processing, value addition, cold-chain and marketing infrastructure in West Bengal’s dairy sector.
The government said the facility would provide milk producers and livestock rearers with a more transparent and stable procurement market while creating employment and income opportunities in the rural economy.
Shah said the first phase would benefit around 1.20 lakh milk producers and livestock rearers. He added that the wider procurement network could eventually help around 2.5 lakh livestock rearers obtain better prices for their milk.
The Union government also plans to establish an animal-breed improvement centre and a sex-sorted semen facility in West Bengal to increase the availability of higher-yielding milch animals.
During the programme, foundation stones were laid for 10 cooperative warehouses, while warehouses with a combined storage capacity of 1,400 metric tonnes were inaugurated.
A memorandum of understanding was also signed to connect taxis operating in West Bengal with the Bharat Taxi cooperative platform. Under the proposed model, participating vehicle operators would become shareholders in the company and receive a share of its profits.
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