Aavin supply hits as labour dispute spills

CHENNAI: Aavin milk's delivery to hundreds of houses in the city and its suburbs was delayed on Tuesday due to a dispute between private transporters and labourers.

The dispute erupted on Monday night between the private transporters engaged by Aavin to distribute milk sachets from its dairies and loaders over a hike in labour rates. Aavin has dairies in Madhavaram, Ambattur and Sholinganallur and it has roped in around a hundred private operators to distribute around 10.5 lakh litres of milk to the milk booths. Aavin has around 7 lakh card holders.

Many milk booths in the city did not receive supplies till around 9 am in the morning. Later on Tuesday afternoon, the striking crew members withdrew their protest and returned to work after discussions. Following the delay in milk supply, private producers hiked the rates by Rs 2 to Rs 3. "My children were getting late for school and we had to buy from the nearby shop by paying Rs 3 extra," said M Jennifer, a resident of Nungambakkam.

Irate consumers who had qued up since 5 am were seen arguing with the booth managers on the delay. R Geetha, a resident of Kilpauk, said, "Luckily we had an extra packet from the previous day and we made do with it. The authorities should make alternative arrangements and not let the private operators hold the city to ransom''.

The president of the Tamil Nadu Milk producers welfare association, K A Sengottuvel, said various agencies such as Tamil Nadu Milk Producers Welfare Association, Tamil Nadu Milk Producers Association, Thamizhaga Vivasayeegal Sangam and Tamil Nadu Toddy Movement were staging a protest on February 7 to ask the government to increase procurement price by Rs 5 for cow's milk and Rs 8 for buffalo's milk. "We are giving more to the producers. Because of this increase in our procurement prices it has become necessary to increase our selling price," he said.

This cop is on a mission to win more friends for Aavin

CHENNAI: You could say he is addicted to making friends. Prateep V Philip, inspector general of police and the man who founded Friends of Police (FOP), a pioneering concept in community policing, is now on a new mission. As chief vigilance officer of Aavin, the maverick police officer has embarked on a task to create a new forum - Friends of Aavin'. His objective: to strengthen the bond between the milk brand and its customers.

Philip's aim is to encourage Aavin customers to provide feedback and suggestions for improving the functioning and vigilance mechanism in the milk marketing federation. People can email him at cvoaavin@gmail.com or speak to him on the telephone. "Customer response will go a long way in promoting the brand equity of the group; it is beneficial for both manufacturer and customer. With 11 lakh card holders and several million others who buy from our retail outlets, Aavin is one of the most popular brands in Tamil Nadu. Many Aavin products are sold even in the northern parts of the country. It is also one of the cheapest branded milk in the world," said Philip.

To be a member of Friends of Aavin, customers need not formally register their names. "Every customer automatically becomes a member. We only expect them to be as pure as the milk we supply," he said, tongue-in-cheek, adding, "The information they convey should be nothing but the truth. We have more than 50 hot milk parlours and 100 vending machines in Chennai. If we get to know that Aavin staff charge more than the MRP or cheat customers on quantity, we take strict disciplinary action under the Consumer Act and Essential Commodities Act."

Based on a complaint, Philip and his team raided an Aavin milk parlour in Koyambedu on Wednesday and recommended disciplinary action against two employees for engaging an outsider as support staff. Also, instead of 120 ml of hot milk, the employees were giving only 100 ml to customers. "We found the parlour staff siphoning off Rs 2,000 a day. They shared the booty among themselves," he said.

Philip has modelled his Aavin experiment after FOP, which he started in 1993 when he was Ramanathapuram superintendent of police. FOP, in many ways, is a national blue print for community policing and has over six lakh members across Tamil Nadu. By facilitating closer interaction between police and public, it aims at upholding human rights by police personnel and allaying misapprehensions public have about the person in khaki. Philip has won several awards, including the prestigious Queen's Award in 2002 for innovation in police training and development.

Inspired by the success of FOP, people working in many sectors have floated similar fora such as Friends of Passengers in transport corporations, Friends of Beach by beach-goers for improving beach safety and upkeep, and Friends of Security for improving the efficiency of security personnel.

Philip is one of the key witnesses in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. He was standing very close to the former Prime Minister when the latter got killed. Scores of pellets had pierced Philip's body and everytime he passes through a metal detector now, there is a beep sound.

Large scale hoarding of Aavin milk detected

CHENNAI: The vigilance department of the Tamil Nadu Cooperative Milk Producers Federation Limited (Aavin) on Wednesday unearthed large scale hoarding of Aavin milk in MGR Nagar, K K Nagar area and seized several litres of milk packets stocked by a few dealers.

In a surprise raid, vigilance wing found that some dealers in MGR Nagar had been creating an artificial scarcity of Aavin milk in the area and then selling it for a higher price. People, who had no other choice but to buy from these dealers, were forced to pay the higher rates.

"If the sub-dealers take milk from a main dealer and then sell it for a higher price, there is little we can do about it. If our own dealers hoard milk and sell it for a higher price, we make internal inquiries and cancel the dealership if proved. However, such action cannot be taken in the case of sub-dealers. We can only seize the milk packets in such cases," said Kathirvel, general manager, marketing, Aavin.

He said he was yet to get the complete information about the raids. "We have been trying our best to curb MRP violations and have successfully controlled it in many areas. We have a meeting on Saturday where we will discuss this issue," he added.

Residents in areas like MGR Nagar and Mahabalipuram say there has been a scarcity of Aavin milk. "If you do not have a milk card, given to ration card holders, getting milk from the booths becomes very difficult. We feel these dealers are trying to create artificial demand and we have to either settle down for poor quality substitutes or pay a higher rate to get Aavin milk," said K Ramanathan of MGR Nagar.

Many private suppliers have higher prices for their products. Aavin is the most preferred brand in Tamil Nadu and has a great demand in the city.

Aavin flooded with complaints, begins raids on retailers

CHENNAI: The state-owned Aavin milk federation h" been conducting raids since Monday, after TOI exposed the practice of some retailers charging customers more than the maximum retail price for milk.

Three teams of senior officials from Aavin and the vigilance team began investigations and found that several retailers in Chennai have been fleecing customers.

"We conducted raids in more than 150 booths across Chennai and found that 10% of them sell 500ml of Aavin milk for Re 1 more than the MRP," a senior Aavin official said.

The Aavin vigilance team also carried out surprise checks in several places."We have also issued notices to the Aavin agents who sold milk sachets to the retailers re-sell them above the MRP," the official added. He said the raids will continue to ensure that people are not cheated.

Aavin has also been deluged with complaints from people informing them about retailers who are charging more than the MRP. The complaints have been coming via email or the 24-hour helpline that Aavin runs. "We received complaints from Saidapet and Selaiyur," the official said. Until last Friday, the helpline at the Aavin headquarters in Nandanam had not received even one complaint in three months. Though a helpline and 24 zonal marketing offices across the city were open to receiving complaints, customers said they were unaware of the complaint mechanism.

The controller of legal metrology, who functions under the labour department, has also received complaints about the rogue retailers.

"After the news report on the Aavin milk scam, we have received complaints from a group of residents from Arumbakkam. We have also decided to conduct raids across the city to regulate malpractices," said M Balasubramaniyum, controller of legal metrology.

Aavin officials have also printed stickers with the details of the toll-free complaint number and will soon put them up at all the outlets.

Aavin hikes prices of milk products

CHENNAI: Faced with rising prices of sugar, ghee and butter, state run dairy co-operative Aavin has increased the prices of all its products for the first time in two years. The maximum rise in prices has been effected on its sweet products -- the milk khova (pal khova), gulab jamun and mysorepa.

The increase comes on the back of the dairy increasing the procurement price of milk and a subsequent hike in butter and ghee prices. With this increase, the flagship sweet brand of Aavin, the milk khova, will cost Rs 125 for 500 grams, up from Rs 90 earlier. Also, half kg of gulab jamun and mysorepa, which were earlier priced at Rs 85, has also seen the price increased to Rs 125. However, the price hike is just marginal for most of the products, with the increase ranging between just about a rupee or two for fast moving consumer products.

The price increase, especially those of the sweet products, seems to have been triggered by the surge in sugar prices. Since October, sugar prices have been rising steadily by about 19% in all the metros, due to delay in the cane-crushing process in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, two of the top sugar-producing states in the country. Sugar price has been hovering around Rs 35 since mid-November.

Products like lassi, maavin (a mango drink), hot milk, curd and probiotic curd have seen a negligible price rise of one rupee or two. Officials say the prices are still lower than the products of Amul and other private dairies.

The hike was effected as Aavin increased the procurement price of milk by Rs two per litre of cow milk and Rs five per litre for buffalo milk since September 1, 2009.

The last price hike for Aavin products came in July 2007. The increase in the price of all of Aavin's products comes on the back of the co-operative recently increasing the price of its butter and ghee products. Just about a week back, Aavin increased the price of its ghee by Rs 40 per litre, while butter price was increased by Rs 15 per half kg. Aavin procures 25 lakh litres of milk from milk producers in the state and the co-operative had increased the procurement price of milk twice in the last two years. The hike in September was necessitated as milk producers in the state threatened to go on an indefinite strike.

Aavin issued showcause notice for flouting safety normas at Sholinganallur dairy

 

 

CHENNAI: The Fire and Rescue Services has issued showcause notice to Aavin (the Tamil nadu Cooperative Milk Producers' Federation Ltd) for flouting fire safety norms in its dairy at Sholinaganallur.

The Continental Ware Housing Corporation was also pulled up for not obtaining a no-objection certificate from the authorities for a godown it had leased out in Madhavaram.

Last month, several tonnes of milk powder were destroyed in a major blaze at the Aavin dairy in Sholinganallur. Even as the fire control room was alerted, the blaze spread rapidly and engulfed the entire building. Later, 40 firemen, five fire engines and 15 Metrowater lorries rushed to the spot to contain the blaze. The total loss was pegged at Rs 2.5 crore.

The plant on Rajiv Gandhi Salai was one of the three in Chennai. The other two are at Ambattur and Madhavaram. They supplied a total of 10.5 lakh litres of milk to the city daily. "The Sholinganallur dairy alone supplies 3.5 lakh litres to areas in South Chennai," said Vasudevan. a spokesman for Aavin. Milk powder packed in polythene and paper bags was brought in from Erode, Salem and other districts and stored there.

In another incident last month, a fire at the Continental Ware Housing Corporation godown damaged more than Rs 18 crore worth of chemicals and furniture. Two persons, trapped in the fire, suffered 75% burns and were admitted to a private hospital, the police said.

According to the police, the fire broke out at the godown where imported chemicals and furniture were kept for customs clearance.

As the fire raged, the owner of the godown, Vinod, rushed there with manager R Ritheesh. The police said the two opened the shutter and tried to go inside the godown and put out the fire but got trapped. They rushed out crying and the security persons wrapped blankets around them. By then they had suffered third degree burns, the police said.

ABOUT SALEM AAVIN

1	Registration of Salem District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union Ltd   ED:912	10.07.1978
2	Starting of the Salem District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union  Ltd	07.10.1978
3	Area of operation	Salem & Namakkal District
4	No. of Societies affiliated	1101
5	No. of Functional Societies	1,049
6	Total No. of farmer members       a)     Women Membersb)     Pouring Members	3,26,684 1,10,693    47,582
7	No.of  Rural  Milk collection Routes	56
8	Procurement Price paid to Producers        Buffaloe Milk per Kg Fat       Cow Milk per Kg Total Solid	Rs. 200.00    - Rs.14.00 / Lit Rs.   92.30    - Rs.12.00 / Lit
9	Daily Average Procurement in Litres	3,97,727
10	Maximum Milk Procurement	4,47,675 Litres on 02.06.2006
11	Local Milk Sales	1.38 lakhs litres / day
12	Processing capacity   in lpd	3,00,000
13	Chilling capacity in lpd
	Chilling Centre      -  Attur                               Namakkal                                P. Velur	1,30,000   50,000  50,000
14	Handling  at present   in lpd a.)   Salem Dairy b)  Chilling Centre  -  Attur                                Namakkal                               P.Velur	3,40,000  1,02,740   49,628   47,978
15	Product Production Capacity (per day)                                                 BUTTER                                                GHEE                                                SMP	9     MT6        MT10    MT
16	No. of Regular Employees working in this Union	675

ASEPTIC PACKAGING STATION

         An Aseptic Packaging Unit, consisting of a sophisticated tetrapack packing plant imported from Sweden and Stormac UHT Plant are installed in the Union . This is  the first of its kind in Tamil Nadu.  This unit is packing 200 ml Flavoured Milk  ,500 ml Tetra Fino and 1000 ml standardized milk. This Milk has a shelf life of 120 days. 

       Ultra High temperature treated milk was introduced in India during  1985.  It has a shelf life of 120 days at room temperature without refrigeration.  For Ultra High Temperature treatment, milk of low bacteriological count is taken  and is subjected to high  temperature of 140 degree C gradually ( Exposed for 2 seconds) and cooled back to ambient temperature and packed in sterile Aluminium foil polythene paper in the shape of Brick.The main advantages of Ultra High Temperature treated milk are: 1. No refrigeration is required until opened. 2. Very hygenic and no adulteration can be done. 3. Single way transportation, easy for storage, pilfer-proof and ready to  consume product. 4. Reasonable price.

As Salem District is known familiar with Mango fruits, fresh mango juice is packed in Tetra pack with shelf lfe of 120 days in the brand name of MAAVIN and supplied to the consumers throughout the year.