Gujarat BJP President CR Patil inaugurated the Surat District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union (Sumul Dairy) Ice-Cream cone making plant at Navi Pardi village in Kamrej Taluka in Surat district on Thursday.
It is the first dairy cooperative in India, which has set up an ice cream cone making unit. The plant will have a capacity of producing up to 4 lakh ice cream cones per day.
It is gathered that GCMMF, which sells its products under the brand name of Amul, requires around 40 crore ice cream cones annually for various ice cream varieties sold across the country and the plant setup by Sumul Dairy will prove to be a game changer in this connection. Currently, GCMMF buys cones from private manufacturers within the state and outside.
Lauding the efforts of Sumul Dairy, C R Patil said, “The contribution of Sumul Dairy has been very important as far as the dairy industry is considered. Sumul Dairy is working to provide economic empowerment to the cattle farmers of Surat district by providing them good rates of their milk. The dairy collects 27 lakh liters of milk daily, of which 80 percent comes from tribal areas”, he said.
“The ice cream cone manufacturing plant has created new employment opportunities for locals. Sumul Dairy is contributing significantly to the development of the state as well as the economic upliftment of the people connected with it”, Patil added.
In his speech, Banas Dairy Chairman and Gujarat Legislative Assembly Speaker Shankarbhai Choudhary said, “The cooperative dairies in the state used to purchase ice cream cones from private organizations, but now the newly developed cone making unit of Sumul, will help them overcome this problem, he noted.
He urged the participants mostly from the Dairy sector that they should take advantage of various welfare schemes of the central and state governments to make the people self-reliant.
Sumul Dairy Chairman Mansinhbhai Patel informed about the achievements of Sumul Dairy and praised the efforts of Sumul Dairy in strengthening the dairy farmers.
On this occasion, Gujarat Cooperation Minister Jagdish Vishwakarma, Finance Minister Kanubhai Desai, Mukeshbhai Patel, MP Prabhubhai Vasava, Sumul Dairy Chairman Mansinh Patel, Raju Pathak, MD Arunbhai Purohit, Bhavaniben Patel, board of directors, dairy farmers and others were present.
It may be noted that, under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, the central government has given an incentive of Rs.2.51 crore to Sumul Dairy for expansion of its ice cream plant.
Sumul is one of the 17 district unions associated with Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), the marketer of the Amul brand of products.
