Reopening of Ongole Dairy demanded

AP Rythu Sangham (APRS) State president Gujjula Eswaraiah has demanded that the government take steps to reopen the Ongole Dairy.
A round table conference was organised by the CPI here on Thursday in which leaders of various parties and organisers demanded the reopening of Ongole Dairy.
Speaking on the occasion, AP Rythu Sangam State president Eswaraiah said that the Ongole Dairy was the second largest dairy on which 1,500 families are dependent.
“The Ongole Dairy was flourishing in 1994 with 2.50 lakh litres of milk procurement. However, it was stuck in Rs 48 crore debts in 2006. The NDDB took over the dairy in 2012 and turned it around. However, the Ongole Dairy was incorporated in the Cooperative Dairy Act after 2014 which pushed the dairy into crisis,” Eeshwaraiah said.
The previous government headed by Jagan Mohan Reddy had handed over the dairy to the Amul. Most of the machinery of the dairy is not functioning now. The Ongole Dairy has about Rs 1,000 crore worth of properties and the dairy farmers of the region are demanding the reopening of the dairy, he stated.
He said that a delegation would meet Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to submit a memorandum urging to reopen the Ongole dairy.  Ongole Dairy former president Rama Rao, CPM district secretary Sd. Hanif, CPI-ML district secretary DVN Swamy and CPI-ML New Democracy district secretary Chittipati Venkateswarlu and AP Rythu Sangham district secretary K Veera Reddy also spoke.