1,800 Aarey booths to run dry today; the dairy at Worli received 61,000 litres less than the daily demand for milk, while those at Kurla and Goregaon received no supply at all; prices set to go up by Rs 3 per litre from today
1,800 Aarey booths to run dry today; the dairy at Worli received 61,000 litres less than the daily demand for milk, while those at Kurla and Goregaon received no supply at all; prices set to go up by Rs 3 per litre from today
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If you are planning to serve up delectable homemade milk confections to appease the sweet-toothed lord on his first day in the city, then brace yourself for disappointment.
1,800 Aarey booths across the city will run dry today, with no milk supply on the first day of Ganeshotsav.
On the eve of Eid, Worli dairy received 17,000 litres of milk; a paltry amount when compared to the 1.7 lakh litres of milk that was supplied to it on the same occasion last year.
In order to tackle the acute shortage in supply, caused by competitive procurement prices offered to farmers by private players, the Aarey authorities have decided to raise the procurement prices by Rs 3 per litre.
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This means that retail prices will also shoot up from today.
As per the notification issued by the state government on August 28, the retail price of a litre of milk has been notched up from Rs 26.50 to Rs 28 per litre.
Buffalo milk prices have been hiked from the earlier Rs 34 to Rs 37.
The staff at Kurla, Worli and Goreagon dairies had been expecting to receive supplementary supply of milk yesterday to meet the surge in demand on Day One of Ganesh Chaturthi.
Much to their surprise and consternation, the Worli dairy received only 14,000 litres of cow milk, while Kurla and Goregaon did not receive a drop.
The dairy has been experiencing a downward spiral recently, owing to grinding supply crunch, and persistent efforts made by land sharks to acquire the crumbling properties for redevelopment.
Officialspeak
"Every year during Eid or Ganeshotsav, extra cartons of milk are supplied to Aarey outlets and dairies, to meet the additional demand. But the supplementary supply did not come in today," said a senior official at Worli dairy.
Dairy Development Commissioner RD Shinde said, "The amount paid by the government to procure milk from farmers is less than that paid by private players by a margin of Rs 3-4 per litre. Naturally, the farmers prefer selling the milk to private players.
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In fact, the government's participation in the dairy business accounts for only 2 to 3 per cent of the industry, whereas private players and co-operatives control the remaining 97 to 98 per cent.
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However, from today, we have increased the procurement price, as a result of which retail prices will also shoot up."
Prasad Narvekar, owner of a booth in Ghatkopar that is supplied by Aarey, said, "We have been facing shortage of milk for at least a year. We expected the dairy to supply a few extra litres during the festivities, but were disappointed."
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