Maha's Chitale Group patriarch Kakasaheb Chitale dead

Well-known agro-industrialist Dattatraya Bhaskar Chitale, alias Kakasaheb, the patriarch of the famed Chitale Dairy Farms, passed away at Miraj, Sangli on Saturday, official sources said.

He was 78 and is survived by his wife Sunita, sons Girish and Makarand and daughter Veena Sahasrabuddhe.

Late on Friday night, he suffered a cardiac arrest and was rushed to a private hospital for treatment but could not survive.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Nationalist Congress Party MP Supriya Sule, state Congress President and Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat, Bharatiya Janata Party Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis and others have condoled the death of Chitale and lauded his contributions to the development of the state agro-industry sector.

The 81-year-old Chitale Dairy which Kakasaheb Chitale spearheaded for several decades, is ranked among the oldest and most reputed farm products institutions in the country.

The company was launched in the family home's backyard in Bhilawadi (Sangli) village in 1939 by his father, the late Bhaskar Ganesh alias Babasaheb Chitale, and after his demise, son Kakasaheb took over the reins and built it into a globally-recognised household brand.

From its ultra-modern plants that deploy 'cloud technology', the dairy farm produces around 300,000 litres of milk everyday which supports more than 50,000 farmers and looks after 2,00,000 cows and buffaloes.

The milk is sold all over the state, besides the entire range of dairy products like butter, paneer, cheese, ghee, khoya, shrikhand, lassi, milk powder, bakarwadi, etc. under the Chitale brand.

Besides the family's agro-businesses, Kakasaheb was deeply involved in a variety of social, cultural, educational, community and public welfare activities around Maharashtra. - IANS