Army in Assam to drink Purabi milk

ROOPAK GOSWAMI

Army personnel in Assam would soon be drinking milk supplied by WAMUL( West Assam Milk Producers' Cooperative Union Limited) a Guwahati- based milk cooperative making it now a force to reckon with.

A few years back, nobody would have thought of WAMUL which sells milk and milk products under Purabi brand name to do as it was in shambles.

Army officials from Delhi had met Managing Director of WAMUL M Thakur to discuss the probability of WAMUL supplying milk to its establishments in Assam.

"We have agreed to do it but it will take four months time as it will require
refurbishment of our infrastructure" Thakur said.

Army wants 30,000 litres of milk daily from the cooperative.

Thakur said the request from the Army was based on the feeback on the milk quality supplied to them.

At present WAMUL which produces milk and milk products under Purabi brand name provides
milk to army establishements in the city and Tezpur.

The milk cooperative supplies 3000 litres to army establishments in the city and in
Tezpur.

The total milk supplied by WAMUL is 30,000 litres daily to Guwahati and neighbouring
areas. The plant has the capacity to handle 40,000 litres of milk.

In order to provide the milk supply to army, the cooperative will be spending Rs 2 crores
to improve its infrastructure and the entire plant will be now an automated plant which
will have the capacity to deliver quickly.

The refurbished plant will have the capacity to handle one lakh litres of milk daily.

Thakur said this contract would redeem the image of WAMUL in the milk market and give it
more confidence to develop new products and get more clients.

The Army has agreed to take the milk from the Purabi dairy and transport it to its locations on its own.

Wamul is now supplying milk to six places in Assam barring defence supplies. The six places are Guwahati, Nagaon, Jorhat, Nalbari, Rangia and Sonapur.

The process of revival of WAMUL came after the signing of a tripartite agreement between Assam government, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and the West Assam Milk Producers` Co-operative Union Ltd (WAMUL) in 2008.

The agreement is for a period of five years and both the state government and NDDB have

agreed to run WAMUL in accordance with sound business principles and on commercial lines.

The cooperative has also established a bulk milk cooler in Changsari on the outskirts of the city which will provide a systematic way of milk procurement from nearby areas and also in increasing the shelf life of milk.

Milk can be stored for 48 hours in the bulk milk cooler with a 2,000-litre capacity.

Milk is being procured from Hajo, Rangia, Pathsala and now Darrang has also been included.

According to the latest Draft Codex International Code of Hygienic Practice for Milk and Milk Products from Codex Secretariat, if the milk is not processed within two hours of milking, it is required to be cooled to a temperature below 7 degrees Celsius. Therefore, the dairies that have to market their milk and milk products in the international market will have to comply with the code and the cold chain will become a must for them.

The system will eliminate the use of milk cans, help prevent milk from turning sour, reduce transportation costs and ensure better returns.

EOM

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