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Gujarat move may spell milk shortage

On June 30, Gujarat has put ban on permitting interstate export of salvage buffalo. Because of the ban, around 1.5 lakh buffaloes in Gujarat are waiting to return to Mumbai.

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If there is milk shortage resulting in price rise in Mumbai, you can blame this on Gujarat.

On June 30, Gujarat has put ban on permitting interstate export of salvage buffalo. Because of the ban, around 1.5lakh buffaloes in Gujarat are waiting to return to Mumbai.

On Monday, a delegation of buffalo stable owners from across Gujarat met Dilip Sanghani, minister of agriculture and animal husbandry, and requested the minister to lift the ban. “At present, buffalo owners in Mumbai supply one lakh litre of milk every day to Mumbaikars. At any given time, there are 1 lakh buffaloes in Mumbai and around 1.2 to 1.5lakh dry buffaloes are in Gujarat for delivering calves,” said Valeebhai Jalal, who owns stables in Mumbai and Gujarat.

“Today, because of the ban of export of salvage buffaloes, milk prices in Mumbai have shot up. The price of milk has touched Rs50 a litre.”

He said most of the buffalo stables in Mumbai are owned by Gujaratis.

A stable owner from Nandasan in Mahesana district Saiyed Ahmad Hussain was part of the delegation which met the minister.

“I have around 320 buffaloes in my stable. Small and poor farmers or widows earn livelihood of Rs1,500 per buffalo for caring for them till they deliver the calf,” Hussain said.

“Today we have made representation to the minister and he has assured us to take proper steps to lift or ease the ban.”
The stable owners said that one buffalo gives livelihood to 25 to 40 people in Gujarat.

“A whole economy has been developed because of this,” Hameed Mansuri, secretary of Kakoshi Vibhag Salvage Commission Agent Association, from Kakoshi in Patan district said. “We brought dry buffaloes here from Mumbai as it is costly to maintain them there.”

Hussain said the ban is because of politics. “It seems Gujarat’s cooperative dairy management leaders are playing politics. They are not able to procure enough milk for their dairy units in Haryana, so they want milk from Gujarat. If there is milk shortage in Gujarat, why are big dairies supplying tankers full of milk outside Gujarat?”

“We will look into the matter,” said Sanghani.

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