Ramsinh Parmar is new Amul chairman

Anand (Gujarat):Anand Dairy chairman Ramsinh Parmar was unanimously elected as the chairman of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Limited (GCMMF), the marketing body of the ‘Amul’ brand of milk and other dairy products.
BJP MLA Jetha Bharwad was elected as the vice-chairman of GCMMF.
The elections to the two posts were held today at the GCMMF headquarters here in the presence of chairmen of the state’s 18 dairy co-operatives who are also members of the GCMMF board.
State ministers Bhupendrasinh Chudasama and Kaushik Patel, to whom the state government had given the charge of the election, GCMMF managing director R S Sodhi and district registrar co-operative were also present on the occasion.
All the 18 dairy co-operatives in the state are headed by those associated with the ruling BJP.
While Bharwad retained the post of vice chairman for the second consecutive term, Parmar replaced Jetha Patel, who held the post for two-and-a-half years.
Parmar’s name for the top post was proposed by former minister Shankar Chaudhary, who is the chairman of the Banas Dairy, while that of Bharwad was proposed by outgoing chairman Jetha Patel, Chudasama told reporters.
Parmar is presently the chairman of Anand’s Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union, which is popularly known as the Amul Dairy.
Asked why Chaudhary was not elected for the post when there were speculations that he may be in the race, Chudasama said, “The party decided to engage Chaudhary for other responsibilities, which is why Ramsinh Parmar was unanimously elected as the chairman.”
Parmar, the former Congress MLA from Thasra constituency in the district, had switched over to the ruling BJP but was defeated in the Assembly elections last year.
The name of Bharwad, who won from the Shehra Assembly constituency last year, was proposed by outgoing chairman Jetha Patel, who is also the chairman of Sabar Dairy.
Bharwad was in 2015 elected as the first vice chairman of the GCMMF.
After the results were announced, Parmar told reporters that he will work in tandem with the government for the betterment of all the 18 co-operatives in the state so that milk producers are benefited.
“For 33 years I have served the Amul Dairy. Now, with the new responsibility, I will ensure that all stakeholders come together to ensure that all the dairy co-operatives develop and milk producers get the right price for their produce,” he said.
He said the state government has helped to ensure that milk prices remain reasonable enough to sustain and benefit the producers.
“The milk prices in Gujarat were not reduced (for milk producers) even when they were reduced in other states.
Despite an increase in milk procurement, we did not reduce the milk prices so as to ensure that producers get the right price,” he said. PTI