Mother Dairy acquires Darjeeling’s milk co-op body

HT, 18 September 2016, SILIGURI: State government owned Mother Dairy has taken over Himalayan Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union Ltd (HIMUL). HIMUL, established in the early 1970s to empower milk producers of Darjeeling and nearby areas, had failed miserably despite the government’s attempts to revive it and make it profitable. 
The state government has decided to take in HIMUL’s 150 employees and place them in Mother Dairy and its departments. 
The development has brought to the fore how the faulty policy, bureaucratic way of functioning and competition from private dairy firms resulted in HIMUL’s doom. HIMUL was considered a cash cow in the region while it aimed to empower milk producers.

The state of the art machines HIMUL procured and the experts it hired from across the country could have made it one of the most successful cooperative movements in the entire country. 

Old timers and those closely associated with HIMUL said, “The faulty policy conceptualised and unrealistic assumptions cost the organisation dear.” 

A senior state government officer who was closely associated with HIMUL said “Since Day One, HIMUL could never produce targeted one lakh litres of milk daily.” 

Though it was assumed that milk producers particularly from Darjeeling will meet its requirement, it never happened. It could not meet even half of the target.