Navgujarat Samay Ahmedabad July 17, 2020 Friday

Election for GCMMF-Amul’s Chairman, Vice Chairman on July 23

Navgujarat Samay> Anand: Upcoming elections of Chairman, Vice Chairman for Gujarat Co-

operative Milk Marketing Federation GCMMF post Rajyasabha elections has heated up the

politics.

GCMMF, which markets milk and milk products under the brand name of Amul, will hold its

elections for the post of Chairman and Vice Chairman on July 23. The election is more of a

selection process over the years. An atmosphere of excitement prevails in the cooperative sector

on whether the federation with an annual turnover of Rs. 38,550 will head for a change with this

election or repeat the same pattern of selection.

The cooperative movement in the large Kheda district started with guidance of Sardar

Vallabhbhai Patel and under the leadership of farmers’ leader Tribhuvandas Patel to protect

farmers from exploitation by the private dairy called Polson.

Milk producers’ societies started operating on a cooperative basis and this Amul model was

implemented across India through Operation Flood. In 1973, Gujarat Cooperative Milk

Marketing Federation was established by Dr. Kurien to market milk and milk products. He

served as the Chairman of GCMMF since its establishment till 2006.

Post his resignation in 2006, Banas Dairy’s Chairman Parthibhai Bhatod was unanimously

chosen as the Chairman of the federation. After him, Vipul Chaudhary, Chairman of Dudhsagar

dairy took over the duties of Chairman of GCMMF from 2012. But within 1.5 years of his tenure

as Chairman, a motion of no confidence was passed against him and as a result Sabar dairy’s

Chairman Jethabhai Patel became the Chairman of the federation.

Upon completing his tenure as Chairman in 2018, Ramsinh Parmar and Jethabhai Bharwad,

Chairman of Panchamrut dairy were appointed as Chairman and Vice Chairman of GCMMF

respectively by unanimous votes. The presiding Chairman and Vice Chairman have completed

their term and thus the election is scheduled for July 23. All eyes are on the election procedure

guessing who will be elected or rather selected for the positions.

Allotment of number of votes will be decided upon procurement by milk unions

Chairpersons, Managing Directors and district registrars of 18 member milk unions of the

federation will be eligible to vote for the positions of Chairman and Vice Chairman of GCMMF.

The number of votes allotted to each union will be decided as per their milk procurement

business. Since the establishment of the federation till date, it is the board members of the

federation who have decided for the positions of Chairman and Vice Chairman and the unions’

votes were never considered.

Organisation with 36 lakh milk producers

Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation was established in 1973 and has 18 milk

cooperative unions as its members. 18,600 village dairy cooperative societies procure 230 lakh

litres of milk per day. GCMMF has an milk processing capacity of 350 lakh litres. GCMMF with

36 lakh milk producers as members had annual turnover of Rs. 38,550 in 2019-20.

Milk Unions Votes

Amul dairy- Anand 237

Dudhsagar dairy-Mehsana 224

Sabar dairy-Himatnagar- Sabarkantha 207

Banas sairy- Palanpur- Banaskantha 455

Sumul dairy- Surat 028

Sugam dairy- Vadodara 012

Panchamrut dairy- Panchmahal 110

Vasudhara dairy- Valsad 041

Dudhdhara dairy- Bharuch 020

Uttam dairy- Ahmedabad 033

Madhur dairy- Gandhinagar 019

Gopal dairy- Rajkot 006

Sursagar dairy- Surendranagar 044

Amar dairy- Amreli 010

Sarvottam dairy- Bhavnagar 025

Sarhad dairy- Kutch 026

Sorath dairy- Junagadh 007

Sudama dairy- Porbandar 024

Registrar 084

Managing Director 084

Similar story appeared in Divya Bhaskar Anand Edition and Sandesh Ahmedabad Edition on

July 17, 2020