BMC’s flavoured milk contractor dupes state of Rs72 lakh octroi

Not only has the flavoured milk scheme for civic school students resulted in several of them taking ill, but it has now come to light that the contractor supplying the milk to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) schools in the city has evaded octroi worth Rs72 lakh by undervaluing the cost per litre by almost 50%.

The BMC pays Rs72.5 per litre for the one litre flavoured milk, but the contractor, Rashtriya Mazdoor Grahak Madhyavarti Sangh (RMGMS), has shown the cost at Rs37.5 per litre. The milk was produced by GK Dairy, Delhi.

In 2007, the BMC decided to provided flavoured milk to its 1170 primary and 49 secondary schools. For the first time ever, the civic body made a provision of about Rs200 crore per year for the milk.

As per the contract between the BMC and the RMGMS, the contractor was expected to supply milk for three academic years from 2007-2010 and the cost of a 200 ml tetra pack was decided Rs11.50, Rs13 and Rs14.5 for each year respectively.

GK dairy assured the RMGMS of regular flavoured milk supply and brought milk from Delhi to Mumbai through LBS Octroi Naka as stock transfer. During the transfer, GK dairy, instead of declaring the actual cost of the milk, declared a negligible value of the consignment. The dairy showed the value of a 200 ml to be Rs7.50 every year and evade octroi.

A report of BMC’s chief auditor reveals the octroi evasion. The auditor has advised the BMC to take appropriate action against the guilty and recover the revenue including penalty which is applicable in this case.

The scheme came into effect after the steady drop-out rate of over a lakh students in the last three years showed that khichidi and free text-books were not enough to lure students to classrooms already plagued by the lack of quality education. Parents of BMC school students who come from low socio-economic backgrounds no longer had to bear the costs of material needs of a school-going child.

The scheme was stopped thrice as students took ill after consuming the flavoured milk in various civic schools. The first incident took place at Grant road municipal school in December 2007, then in again October and December this year.

Every time, the distribution of milk was stopped and restarted after getting a clean chit from the BMC’s laboratory. The distribution of milk did not resume after a school child fell ill this month.