Gandhinagar: Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Sunday inaugurated Madhur Dairy’s newly built fully automatic milk processing plant at Dashela in Gandhinagar, built at an estimated cost of Rs 128 crore. Spread across 15 acres, the plant has an initial processing capacity of 2.5 lakh litres of milk per day, with plans to increase it to 5 lakh litres in the future.

Addressing the gathering, Shah said the new facility would become a key driver of economic growth for cattle farmers, adding that nearly 75 percent of the profits generated after operational costs would be directly deposited into the bank accounts of dairy farmers. He also set a target of increasing cattle farmers’ income by 20 percent through a “circular economy” model in the dairy sector.

Highlighting Gujarat’s dairy economy, Shah said around 36 lakh cattle-rearing women in the state contribute to the collection of nearly three crore litres of milk daily, resulting in direct income generation of around Rs 200 crore every day. He described the dairy sector as a major tool for women empowerment.

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s White Revolution 2.0 vision, Shah said India aims to triple milk production over the next 10 years. He also highlighted the role of technology and referred to AI-based digital assistant “Sarlaben” for supporting rural women in agriculture and animal husbandry.

Tracing Madhur Dairy’s journey, Shah said the cooperative began in 1971 with just four societies and milk collection of 6,000 litres and has now grown into an organisation with an annual turnover of Rs 268 crore.

Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, who was present at the event, said Gujarat has long been rooted in cooperative values and praised the dairy movement as a model of development and prosperity. DeshGujarat