Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, on Friday virtually laid the foundation stone of Mother Dairy’s proposed state-of-the-art mega milk processing plant in Nagpur. The virtual foundation stone laying ceremony was conducted during the inaugural function of Agrovision 2023, in the august presence of Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Minister for Revenue, Animal Husbandry & Dairy Development, Government of Maharashtra, Dr Meenesh Shah, Chairman, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), and Manish Bandlish, Managing Director, Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable Pvt. Ltd. The greenfield plant, being set up with investment of over Rs 500 crores will be spread across a sprawling campus of 25 acres in Butibori Industrial Estate, Nagpur.

 

The upcoming facility will have a processing capacity of 6 lakh litres of milk per day, expandable upto 10 lakh litres per day, and will manufacture poly pack milk, along-with other value-added dairy products like ice creams, chaach, lassi, paneer, etc. On the occasion, Gadkari said that it is indeed an auspicious day as with the collective efforts of Government of India, Government of Maharashtra and NDDB-Mother Dairy are marking a new beginning of dairy development in the regions of Vidarbha and Marathwada. Gadkari reiterated his vision of Vidarbha and Marathwada to play a pivotal role in uplifting the milk production of the state of Maharashtra.

 

He mentioned that NDDB and Mother Dairy have been instrumental in increasing milk production across these regions, while acknowledging the fact that due to NDDB and Mother Dairy’s interventions, the dairy farmers of the region are getting better returns for their produce. He mentioned that with the upcoming Mother Dairy processing plant, once operational, will assist in opening new gateways for the farmers of Vidarbha and Marathwada. Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil stated that the dairy development project being undertaken in Vidarbha and Marathwada has indeed provided a new ray of hope to the dairy farmers of the region. Earlier, Governor of Gujarat Acharya Devvrat inaugurated the much-awited four-day Agrovision expo at PDKV, Dabha ground.