Parmar may head GCMMF

MEN ON THE MOVE

The board of directors of Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) has accepted the resignation of Verghese Kurien at its general board meeting held in Anand on Friday.

The meeting took place behind closed doors and the announcement was made through a press release issued later in the day.

When media questioned some of the directors of GCMMF as they made their exit from the meeting, one of the directors, Ramsinh Parmar, said, "The board discussed about the resignation of Kurien, which had been finally accepted by the board with total consensus among all the directors."

Upholding Kurien's contribution for the development of GCMMF, he said, "In future, we will give him a respectful farewell," he added.

Parmar is one of the front-runner for the chairman's post of the Rs 3600 crore food giant "� GCMMF. Asked whether any name has been suggested in the meeting as the future chairman, he said, "It's the members of the board who will take a decision regarding the matter after consulting all the eleven directors."

He refused to name any person. "No name can be given for the chairman's position at present," he added.

On the issue of "Sugam" brand of Baroda dairy, a major bone of contention between NDDB and GCMMF, Narendra Patel, chairman of Baroda District Cooperative Milk Producer Union (BDMPU), said, "Now the relationship between the NDDB and GCMMF will improve and better understanding will take place between the two."

Mohan Bharwad, chairman of Ahmedabad District Cooperative Milk Producer Union (ADCMPU), said, "Now the elected member of cooperatives will chair the post, who will be able to understand us better."

However, he added that there is no politics in Kurien's resignation. Talking about the Ahmedabad market where Bharwad contended earlier that Amul must not sale its product, he said "Amul, Uttam and Sugam will all be sold in Ahmedabad."

He further said that all the representative of various cooperatives will discuss about the Ahmedabad market and try to sort out the matter.

He said, "The Amul-Uttam conflict was one of the reason that made Kurien resign." Voicing his support for NDDB, he said the question of inclusion of Amrita Patel as co-opted member of GCMMF is not being ruled out. "She can be on GCMMF board as NDDB representative."

When asked by a section of media about the logic of making the chairperson of NDDB, a competitor of GCMMF, as a member, he said, "Unity of national milk producer and the federation (GCMMF) is prime requirement of the farmers and for the cooperatives."

He also said that till now there was in-house competition between NDDB and GCMMF, which will cease now. "We will be now able to tackle the private sector in a better way," said Bharwad.

Reacting to the acceptance of his resignation by the GCMMF board, Verghese said, "I am glad that the board has accepted my resignation." When asked about his future plans, he said, "I will give more attention and time to my family," which he was not able to give till now.

Giving his message to the farmers involved in milk cooperative movement, he said, "The farmers should not get worried whether I am there or not. I wIll ask them not to surrender their legitimate right in the cooperative movement."

When asked if he was sad over the entire episode, he replied, "There is nothing to be sad about the incidence, as every thing has to end one day including you and me."

Commenting on the regionalism creeping into cooperative federation, as one cooperative federation had demanded that Amul should not be allowed to sell its product in its area, he said, "The government policy is clear in this regard and there is full freedom of movement of goods and trade within India."

Finally he said, "I had faced lots of difficult situation in my life. I will face this too."