The 50th annual general body meeting (AGM) of Goa Dairy (Goa State Cooperative Milk Producers Union Limited) ended in chaos and confusion among the dairy farmers on Friday over the exact financial condition of the dairy with the chairman Rajesh Phaldessai claiming the accumulated loss of the dairy to be `6 crore till the financial
year 2021-22.
Interestingly, during the special meet of the Goa Dairy held a month back in August, the chairman had claimed the accumulated loss of the dairy to be `14 crore and had blamed the government-appointed administrators for the same. However, at the Friday meet, Phaldessai claimed the accumulated loss has decreased by `8 crore in a month.
Former chairman of the Goa Dairy’s administrative committee and farmer Durgesh Shirodkar said the `14 crore loss claimed by the chairman Phaldessai was wrong and that the figure was made public with some hidden agenda to malign the image of the government administrators so that the newly elected board members could take advantage by blaming the government.
According to Shirodkar, during the tenure of the administrative committee, the dairy earned a profit and based on it, `1.50 crore price difference was given to the farmers. “However, the new board is against transferring benefit to its shareholders (farmers) and thus created an issue during the AGM held on Friday,” he claimed.
Displaying the annual report for the last two financial years, Shirodkar stated that during the financial year 2020-21 Goa Dairy made a profit of `2.40 crore, while during the financial year 2021-22, the dairy suffered a loss of `1.52 crore. “This directly proves that the dairy was earning a profit during the tenure of the administrative committee and chairman Phaldessai is misleading the farmers by making vague statements,” he said.
Shirodkar further demanded an inquiry into the financial condition of Goa Dairy to let the farmers know about the exact position of the dairy.
Though Phaldessai claimed that the accumulated loss of Goa Dairy is `6 crore till 2021-22, he, however, did not explain how he arrived at the figure of `14 crore loss during the meet held a month back.
The AGM was attended by around 120 farmers linked to the Goa Dairy from across the state. It started around 10.30 a.m. and concluded by 3.15 p.m.
