Milk pouches come out of machine. Picture by Ashok Sinha

Patna, Aug. 9: Sudha founded in 1983, has been providing milk products to people across the state and parts of Jharkhand, Delhi and Calcutta.

Sudha Dairy plant is located at Phulwarisharif on a 17-acre plot, 10km from Patna, 300 employees work round-the- clock and has the capacity of producing 20,000 litres of milk per hour.

The city used to the traditional milkmen visiting residents morning and evening to supply fresh milk, the lifestyle has changed and people have switched over to packaged milk.“Why should we not change when the milk is pure, hygienic and disease-free and comes from a standard dairy,” said Mithilesh Kumar Singh, the deputy manager, Sudha Dairy.

Singh said: “The dairy is one industry, which is flourishing in Bihar. At present, with its range of pedas, rasogollas, gulabjamuns, mishti dahi and paneer and milk, Sudha today has an annual turnover of nearly Rs 176 crore.”

“Compfed was set up with a mission to upgrade the socio-economic condition of rural farmers of Bihar. They provide vet care for the farmers and supply good quality cattle feed and facilities,” said S.K. Negi, the chairman of Compfed. It was basically formed as an implementing agency of Operation Flood programme on the lines of Anand Milk Co-operative in Gujarat. To make women join the mainstream dairy industry has been one of the many factors contributing to the formation of Compfed,” said Negi.

“Everyday, Sudha collects nearly 12 lakh litres of milk from six district-level milk producers’ co-operative unions affiliated to the Milk Federation,” said S.N. Thakur, the deputy manager (production) Sudha dairy. The milk comes from Patna, Barauni, Muzaffarpur, Samastipur, Ara and Bhagalpur,” said Thakur.

The Sudha Dairy plant. Picture by Ashok Sinha

“As soon as its reaches the plant it is sent to the laboratory for quality check,” S.N Thakur added.

M.K. Singh, the deputy manager, Patna Dairy Project said: “Thousands of farmers and milk producers in and around the capital have been benefited from the white revolution. With new technologies in place, the new products are designed to have longer shelf life.” New products have been made keeping the health factor of the consumer in mind.

“The annual turnover the co-operative is around Rs 500 crore,” said Singh, the deputy manager, Patna Dairy Project.