Curious ‘expiry’ of Darkata milk centre

Raghav Guleria

Dharamsala, April 7

The milk procurement centre at Darkata, located on the main highway leading to Chandigarh in the Dehra sub-division of Kangra district, has been closed for over eight years.

Once buzzing with activity, this centre now lays idle, with its surroundings overrun with bushes.

About a decade ago, the facility firmed up the economic requirements of farmers residing in the nearby villages.

Talking to The Tribune, the residents of nearby areas said the centre was very popular among the milk producers of the region.

It was a huge source of income for the milk producers and encouraged them to keep cows and buffaloes.

The government recently hiked the rates of cow milk from Rs 38 to Rs 45 per litre, and buffalo milk from Rs 38 to Rs 55 per litre. With the recent increase in milk prices, the villagers now eagerly await the revival of the once booming centre.

The villagers, on the condition of anonymity, said expensive equipment was still lying inside the building that has been shut for years.

According to the villagers, the machinery must have been rusted and ruined by now since nobody has bothered to reopen it.

The centre was running smoothly and was a big support to the farming community of nearby villages, according to the villagers. They remain clueless as to why it was closed.

Remembering the days when the centre was functional, one villager said, “There used to be a lot of hustle and bustle in the early hours, with milk producers bringing their milk and handing it over to the state-run federation entrusted with its procurement and processing.”

The farmers — especially cattle herders of the region — rue that there has been a lot of noise in the recent days about strengthening of such institutions, however, nobody has found time to come and reopen the shutters of the centre.

The milk procurement centre, run by the HP Milk Federation, was serving the milk requirements of its main processing centre at Dagwar, near Dharamsala.

Sachin, who heads the centre at Badwar and other catchment subcentres, said he was optimistic about the Darkata facility becoming operational once again.

However, his own centre, which has a whooping installed capacity of 20,000 litres a day, is operating at just 5,000 litres a day — a fourth of its expected outlay.