GCCMF, the owner of famed brand Amul has reacted strongly against the demolition of its parlours by Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) and has called it an anti-farmer move.
The act of demolition has been very arbitrary on the part of Vadodara Municipal Corporation and against the interests and source of livelihood of 36 lakh farmer members of Gujarat, the owners of AMUL, said the cooperative federation in a press release.
The four demolished Amul Parlors were located at Alkapuri, Badamadi Baug, Khanderao Market and Railway Station Park at Vadodara.
The release said “Similar to the other Corporations of Ahmedabad, Surat and Rajkot, Vadodara Municipal Corporation, after due resolutions in their committees, had also assigned 18 sites to GCMMF Ltd for the construction of AMUL parlors at prominent public garden locations across Vadodara. The assignment orders along with the terms and conditions were issued on date 20th August, 2015, after which the necessary advance deposits were made by AMUL, the sites were surveyed by designated Surveyors and after due verification possession letter was issued to
Parlors were constructed at 13 locations where entire range of AMUL products is available at MRP, to the consumers throughout the day. AMUL is paying the commercial market rents for these sites and specially designed customized AMUL parlors, each costing Rs. 10 lakhs, have been constructed by AMUL. The parlors have received good response from the consumers, as is reflected in the foot falls and daily sales of the parlors, the release stated.
However on 9th April, 2017, for reasons unknown to AMUL, without any prior notice or intimation, 4 parlors were demolished by Vadodara Municipal Corporation. This has not only deprived consumers of gaining access to AMUL products but also has been a loss to small and marginal farmers of Gujarat, the owners of brand AMUL. Also there is an impending threat of demolishing the parlors at remaining 9 locations as well as per the media reports, it said.
India’s largest food products marketing organization, Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (AMUL), which markets the popular Amul brand of milk and dairy products, has a chain of around 8,000 franchised AMUL Parlors – single brand AMUL outlets, across India. These parlors are again a reiteration of AMUL’s philosophy of “Value for Many” to the 36 lakh milk producer members and “Value for Money” quality products to the consumers, the press release felt.