Bangalore, April 7 (Inditop.com) Milk prices will go up by Rs.3 a litre from Wednesday midnight in Karnataka. A litre of toned milk will now cost Rs.19 and prices of milk products like curd and ghee will be hiked soon, officials said Wednesday.
“The chief minister (B.S. Yeddyurappa) has given his consent to the increase and the hike of Rs.3 a litre for toned milk will take effect midnight tonight (Wednesday),” G. Somashekara Reddy, president of the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF), told reporters here.
KMF, an apex body of milk cooperatives in the state, markets milk and its products under the brand name ‘Nandini’. Toned milk is the most preferred one.
Reddy, a legislator and brother of mining barons and ministers G. Janardhana Reddy and G. Karunakara Reddy, said in spite of Rs.3 increase, milk in Karnataka costs less than in Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.
Of the Rs.3, milk producers will be given Rs.2.50 and KMF will retain only 50 paise, he said.
The hike was being talked about for more than a month now but the government had not agreed to it as elections to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) or Greater Bangalore City Corporation were scheduled for March 28 and counting was on Monday.
BJP won the elections for the first time bagging 112 of the 198-seats in the BBMP, with Congress taking 65 and Janata Dal-Secular and independents sharing the remaining seats.
Buoyed by the victory, BJP, ruling Karnataka for the first time, has now set eyes on capturing over 5,600 gram panchayats (village councils) by holding elections before May 15. “We will hold the elections before May 15,” Yeddyurappa told reporters Monday savouring the party’s victory in the BBMP polls.
The hike in milk prices, which will get milk producers additional money, may help BJP in the gram panchayat polls.
