Former Baroda Dairy chairman Ajit Thakore has threatened to move the Gujarat High Court if the current chairman and BJP MLA Madhu Srivastava does not declare the dates for the dairy elections before September 15.

He alleged that even as Srivastava’s term has expired, he is “deliberately trying to delay the elections”.

“He is also taking decisions arbitrarily. He wants to have elections after Diwali,” Thakore, who is supported by the Congress, told Newsline on Wednesday.

According to him, Srivastava has lost the support of four important directors who had backed him in the last elections.

Theformer chairman has also expressed objections to the dairy’s decision of not increasing the milk price in Vadodara, saying the step is against the interest of farmers.

“If Re 1 is increased, this goes to the farmer. Since the federation (Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation) has already increased the prices, the Baroda Dairy would now have to pay more for the procurement of milk from the federation. This will put burden on the dairy,” he said.

Thakore added the prices have been increased across the country and “I see no point in not doing the same (in Vadodara)”. “Why is the dairy chairman adamant on not increasing the prices?” he added.

According to Thakore, the requirement of milk in Vadodara is around 3.7 lakh litres, of which around 1.75 lakh litres are procured from the GCMMF. He said that last year after its elections, the dairy had reduced the amount paid to the farmers. The policy of not giving higher prices to farmers would affect the rural economy.

... contd.