Calcutta, May 23: The Bengal government has decided to merge its dairies in Calcutta and Haringhata to form a company.

Two other dairies, in Asansol and Burdwan, will be converted into joint ventures, an empowered group of secretaries decided today.

The group headed by chief secretary A.K. Deb had been studying a PricewaterhouseCoopers report on restructuring state sick public sector units.

Animal resource development secretary Dilip Chakraborty said the idea is to corporatise the dairies in Nadia’s Haringhata and at Belgachhia in Calcutta. “We haven’t decided yet whether the company will be under government control,” he added.

Sources said the decision shows the government’s desire to privatise the two dairies as one unit. “A corporate set-up will make it easier to off-load the government’s stake.”

The consultant had advised the government to hand over all four dairies to private partners. Today’s decision will be formalised by the cabinet in June.

Haringhata has over 1,500 employees, while Central Dairy at Belgachhia employs about 1,000 people. They primarily process milk brought from other places.