Milk adulterators may not get bail

The rampant and organised manner in which milk adulteration is carried out in the city has prompted the state government to draft and enact a new law that will make the crime a non-bailable offence.

Food and Drug Administration commissioner Ramesh Kumar told DNA, “We have written to the state government earlier seeking stringent changes in the law to tackle the situation. The Bill, enacted in the recently concluded session of the State legislature, is awaiting a nod from the Centre before the law comes into force.’’

The FDA wanted to add more teeth to the law by invoking provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime (MCOCA) Act on such offenders.

Other provisions of the bill include stipulations for milk booths, container and freight agents and other retail outlets against selling more than five litres of milk to an individual unless a bill is issued for the same.

The FDA also wanted the government  to fill up the vacancies in various units in Mumbai and Maharashtra. The department has only 150 inspectors, though the sanctioned strength is 250. Even in Mumbai, there is a shortage of 20-odd inspectors, which are crucial to the crackdown. 

The Crime Branch launched a crackdown on milk adulterators, conducting raids and arresting culprits across the city in January. The officials claimed that milk adulteration had turned into a multi-crore business, which had spread its wings from Colaba to Dahisar.

A senior Crime Branch official said, “Our investigations since January 2006 have thrown up many shocking facts. There is a racket covering Gita Nagar slum in Colaba to Babaiwadi slum in Dahisar to Vashi and Thane.”

“Adulterators run business in collusion with local police stations and dairy department officials. Work of draining up to 60 per cent of each authentic milk sachet and refilling it with water are given to slum-dwellers. It’s a multi-crore business now,” the official added.

The officials said they had conducted seven raids between January 22 and 26. In a raid at Andheri alone, officials  said they had seized 50,000 litres of milk sachets of the popular Mahananda brand.

The officials claimed the accused, B Parshuram, told the police that he had tied up with a milk booth in the region from where he would purchase huge quantities of milk every day. He said 60 per cent of the milk contained in each sachet was emptied and then mixed with water before selling it in the open market.

Crime Branch officials said the police were also led to a residential premise from where a small factory operated to print spurious sachets of the Mahananda Dairy.