Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar inaugurated the state's first cheese plant in Dehri-on-Sone, a city in Rohtas district recently. He also laid the foundation stone of a processing unit having the capacity to produce 30 tonne of milk powder and a dairy plant having a capacity of five lakh litre. Kumar's deputy, Sushil Kumar Modi, was also present at the inauguration.
It is estimated that the inaugurated plant will manufacture approximately one million tonne of cheese, two million tonne of paneer, 1.6 million tonne of pedas, six million tonnes of mishti doi and lassi, and 5,000 bottles of flavoured milk per day. The products would also be distributed in Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.
Milk production in Rohtas district (of which Dehri-on-Sone is one of the three sub-divisions) is estimated to be approximately 6.48 lakh litre per day, of which about 3.36 lakh litre is surplus milk, which is further processed into cheese, milk powder, lassi and other dairy products in the plant.
The objective of setting up the project is not only to facilitate the utilisation of the surplus milk, but also to provide employment (and an additional income) to farmers from Rohtas and the neighbouring districts. As of now, the Bihar State Milk Cooperative Federation Ltd (COMFED) has invested approximately Rs 20, 45, 11, 396.60 in the project.
