Union Home Minister Amit Shah Inaugurates Banas Dairy’s Bio-CNG & Fertilizer Plant

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah today inaugurated the newly constructed Bio-CNG and Fertilizer Plant of Banas Dairy in the Vav-Tharad district of Gujarat. He also laid the foundation stone for a 150-ton powder plant to be built in the region.

Gujarat Assembly Speaker Shankar Chaudhary, Union Ministers of State for Cooperation Krishan Pal Gurjar and Murlidhar Mohol, Union Cooperation Secretary Dr. Ashish Kumar Bhutani, and several dignitaries were present during the ceremony.

Addressing the gathering, Shah said the cooperative journey initiated by Galbabhai Nanjibhai Patel, founder of Banas Dairy, has transformed Banaskantha and elevated the institution to a turnover of ₹24,000 crore. He added that this achievement—built by farmers and women dairy contributors—would make even major corporates “break into a sweat.”

Shah noted that cooperative leaders and farmers of Banaskantha may not realize the scale of their accomplishment. “Mothers and sisters of Gujarat have made villages prosperous. They are the backbone of this success,” he said, highlighting that milk payments reach women directly through transparent systems.

The Home Minister announced that in January next year, around 250 Chairmen and Managing Directors of dairies from across India will visit Banaskantha to observe the region’s cooperative success story.

Reflecting on Gujarat’s transformation, Shah recalled the drought years of 1985–87, when farmers could grow only one crop annually. Today, due to enhanced water availability through the Sujalam-Sufalam Scheme and river-linking efforts led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, farmers in Banaskantha grow three crops a year, vastly increasing rural prosperity.

He revealed that two universities have been tasked with documenting Banaskantha’s water conservation achievements and the socio-economic transformation that followed, ensuring this historic progress is recorded for future generations.

Shah praised the crucial role of women in the cooperative value chain, noting that milk collection and grassroots operations are primarily managed by women. Their collective effort, he said, stands as a global example of women’s empowerment through cooperatives.

He emphasized that Banas Dairy has emerged as Asia’s largest milk-producing dairy, a milestone rooted in Galbabhai Patel’s simple mantra: “We may have little money, but we have many people.” This philosophy, Shah added, has grown into a “giant banyan tree” inspiring cooperative movements across India and abroad.

On future initiatives, Shah urged cooperative dairies nationwide to move into biogas and bio-CNG production and to manufacture animal feed within cooperatives instead of relying on the open market. He assured that the Government of India has already created a comprehensive ecosystem of technology, financing, and policy support to facilitate this expansion.

With the inauguration of the Bio-CNG and Fertilizer Plant and the foundation-laying of the powder plant, Banas Dairy is set to further bolster its leadership in India’s cooperative and dairy sectors, while contributing to clean energy and rural economic growth.