Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Sunday, 17 May inaugurated Madhur Dairy's fully-automated milk processing and packaging plant at Dashela village in Gandhinagar district, Gujarat, saying the facility would 'strengthen the cooperative dairy sector and benefit livestock rearers across the district.' The plant, built at an estimated cost of ₹128 crore, marks a significant expansion of Gujarat's cooperative dairy infrastructure.

Plant Specifications and Capacity

The new facility has been constructed across 15 acres and carries an initial milk processing capacity of 2.5 lakh litres per day. The plant is designed for scalability, with provisions to expand throughput to 5 lakh litres per day in subsequent phases. The fully-automated setup is intended to improve processing efficiency and reduce post-harvest losses for dairy farmers in the district.

Madhur Dairy's Cooperative Journey

Addressing livestock rearers and dairy farmers at the inauguration, Shah traced Madhur Dairy's evolution from a modest cooperative initiative to a major dairy institution. 'The journey that began in 1971 with only four societies and 6,000 litres of milk has today reached annual turnover worth hundreds of crores and more than three lakh litres of milk collection, processing and distribution,' he said. Shah described the project as a continuation of Gujarat's cooperative legacy built by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Tribhuvandas Patel, and Verghese Kurien. He also declared that 'a new beginning is going to start in Dashela for the milk producer brothers and sisters of Gandhinagar district.'

What the Government Said

Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, who attended as chief guest, said the state had remained rooted in the spirit of cooperation for centuries. He credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of 'Sahkar Se Samruddhi' — cooperation for prosperity — with strengthening the cooperative movement nationally. Patel noted that Madhur Dairy's growth reflected the broader success of cooperative institutions in Gujarat, adding that a consumer cooperative society with around 15,000 members had been operating in the district for the past 50 years through 230 distribution centres.

Key Attendees

The event was attended by a broad cross-section of political and cooperative leadership, including Gujarat Legislative Assembly Speaker Shankar Chaudhary, Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi, State Cooperation Minister Jitu Vaghani, State Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Jagdish Vishwakarma, Madhur Dairy Chairman Shankarsinh Rana, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Chairman Ashok Chaudhary, and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited Chairman Jetha Ahir, along with legislators, cooperative leaders, dairy board members, and farmers. Women livestock rearers welcomed Shah at the venue.

Impact on Farmers and What Comes Next

The plant is expected to directly benefit dairy farmers and livestock rearers across Gandhinagar district by providing a higher-capacity, technology-driven procurement and processing channel. This comes amid the Centre's broader push to modernise cooperative dairy infrastructure under the cooperation ministry — a portfolio Shah has held since its creation in 2021. With the expansion phase capable of doubling current capacity, the facility is positioned as a long-term anchor for dairy livelihoods in the region.