Protest may suck Mumbai dry of milk in two days

The city is likely to face a shortage of milk from Wednesday as buffer stocks maintained by dairies and distributors are drying up due to a protest by farmer groups that have demanded a hike in procurement rates.

Supplies have become a trickle following the indefinite blockade launched by Hatkanangale MP and Swabhimaani Shetkari Sanghatana (SSS) chief Raju Shetti. The protesters want federations to raise milk procurement prices by Rs 5 a litre or the state pay this amount to farmers. Shetti has support from Palghar strongman Hitendra Thakur and the CPI-M. Tankers bringing milk to Mumbai from Gujarat pass through Palghar and Shetti's influence spans the milk-producing Western Maharashtra belt.

Shetti's workers said the agitation would persist till the hike was announced and threatened to intensify the protest. Barring dairy development minister Mahadeo Jankar, they said, no senior government functionary has made an effort to break the stalemate.

RS Sodhi, managing director of Amul, said procurement has stopped in areas like Ahmednagar, Kolhapur and Pune. "We have some stocks, but as the [strike] continues, the pressure will increase."

While Maharashtra's daily milk production is 2.8 crore litres, the marketable surplus (milk sold) is 1.40 crore litres. Mumbai's daily demand is 55 lakh litres. Rajiv Jadhav, commissioner, dairy development, said just 50% of milk had been collected on Monday.

Anand Shinde, a milk distributor in Parel, said while supplies were normal on Monday, the impact could be felt from Tuesday. He added consumers were purchasing extra milk to tide over a likely shortage.

Mohan Yedurkar, managing director of Kolhapur's Warna co-operative milk federation, said collections had dipped by half due to the protest and heavy rains. It collects around 3.75 lakh litres of milk and supplies around 2.50 lakh litres to Mumbai.

However, Kiran Kurundkar, principal secretary, animal husbandry and dairy development, said milk distribution in Mumbai was expected to be normal on Tuesday. "Tankers are being brought under police protection. But, the strike impacted several places," he added, stating that however, the collection had not stopped completely.

Senior officials pointed to dairies hiking procurement rates by Rs 3 per litre effective from July 21 and added that further hikes were expected if the GST rates on milk products and an export subsidy for milk powder were given.

"The demand of Rs 5 per litre subsidy to farmers is impractical as private dairies have 60% of the market followed by co-operatives (39%) and government milk schemes (1%). The procurement rates of private dairies are based on demand and supply and most transactions happen in cash, which makes it tough to discern the quantity of milk sold," he explained.

While some milk federations had stopped milk collection in solidarity, they were likely to resume on Tuesday.

Dr Prashant Narnavare, district collector, Palghar, said the police was deployed to ensure that tankers supplying milk to Mumbai passed unhindered. He, however, admitted that fewer tankers were on the road due to the protest. A.J Subhedar, district collector, Kolhapur, where Shetti has his base, said tankers were being sent to Mumbai under police escort.

Meanwhile, SSS activists vandalised and stopped milk tankers at Solapur, Buldhana, Jalna, Aurangabad and Osmanabad. Protestors said they were forced to sell milk at rates lesser than the Rs 35 cost of production for a litre of cows' milk. The MNS has also supported Shetti's protest.