The Chakkar Dairy Plant in the district functioning under the State Milk Federation has been closed due to some technical snag in the machinery of the plant.
Built during the operation of Indo-German Agriculture Project, which had been launched in 1963 with entire German imported machinery had worked well since then. This plant had made headlines in sixties when for the first time in the country it had started selling milk in polythene bags.
The milk federation has stopped purchasing about 32,000 liters milk daily through its network of over 150 milk collection societies spread across Mandi and adjoining districts.
This has not only caused milk scarcity in small and big towns, but also created panic among the milk producers who were not getting market for the sale of milk. According to a report, the milk producers were suffering a daily loss of Rs 6 lakh .
On Friday milk producers had to return home from the milk collection centers disappointed when they were told that the dairy plant was out of order. The milk producers have urged the Chief Minister and the state government to get the plant repaired at the earliest.