Mumbai: ‘Scrapped Aarey machinery could be turned into art installation’

With the state government issuing a tender for the sale of the unused machinery lying in Aarey dairy the last vestiges of yet another iconic Mumbai institution are on the verge of vanishing In its heyday the dairyrsquos units in Goregaon Kurla and Worli supplied 11 lakh litres of milk dailySurprisingly there is no mention in the government tender documents of preserving milk pasteurisation or cream separator machines or even the popular Energee machine for remembrenceWorli dairy land at Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan Marg on January 16 PicsSatej ShindeSome of Aarey dairyrsquos machines were imported from the Netherlands and Switzerland The Kurla unit known as Mother Dairy was set up in 1970 using funds from UNICEFmidday spoke to many individuals who were associated with the staterun Aarey including Roger C B Pereira 85 the man responsible for coining lsquoEnergeersquo in 1981 All appealed that the state government preserve iconic machine or spare parts in memoriam of the dairyThe tenderDairy officials told midday ldquoAs per the state government approval and directives tenders were floated for the sale of unused plant and machinery Interestingly the tender was opened at a higher value than the expected bid price mentioned in the documentrdquoThe bid price for the Worli unit was fixed at R132 crores lakhdelete and Ms Novitat LLP who had quoted an offer price of R255 crore won the tender The Goregaon unitrsquos bid price was fixed at R105 crore and the highest bidder was Ms Rapti Steel who had quoted a bid of R125 crore The bid price of the Kurla unit was fixed at R64 lakh and Ms Garib Nawaz Corporation who had quoted the highest price of R130 crore won the tenderAsked if scrap vendors had been directed to preserve any iconic machine or spare parts in memoriam of the dairy the official replied ldquoWe havenrsquot received any such direction from the state government and the entire plants and machinery as per the tender need to be scrappedrdquoThe official added that the sale proceeds of the scrap will be deposited in the Reserve Bank of India and go to the state government treasuryMother Dairy KurlaRahil Khan 40 manager at Ms Garib Nawaz Corporation said ldquoWe have deployed around forty to fifty workers to dismantle segregate load and unload the Kurla dairy plant and machinery Some spare parts were found missing or stolen when we began working a few weeks ago A police complaint has been made regarding thisrdquoAccording to Rahil the areas surrounding the dairy were covered with thick vegetation dry grass and tall trees making it a habitat for snakes which were spotted inside the plant ldquoOn days when locals thronged the premises to protest the Adani Group being allotted the land for rehabilitating Dharavi slum dwellers we had no option but to stop workrdquo he saidldquoWe had to clear the space arrange for power install CCTV cameras and hire additional security personnel before we could start the workrdquo he addedThe unit of Aarey dairy as it was fifteen years ago opposite Worli Sea Face File picsRane AshishVintage machinesAsked to elaborate on the nature of plant and machinery at the dairy Rahil said ldquoMost machines were original models but they all had turned obsolete We found 15000litre milk storage tanks of Swiss make There were broken milk pasteurisation and cream separator machines which may have been the best of their kind when the dairy was inaugurated in 1975 Today they cannot be even sold and put to use elsewhererdquoAsked if they have been asked to preserve any machine or part Rahil said ldquoWe have kept aside a huge storage tank with lsquoSwitzerlandrsquo embossed on it and a few machine parts as requested by the officialsrdquoHe agreed that partial preservation of the dairy would go a long way ldquoThe state government may come up with a dairy museum at Goregaon in the futurerdquo he saidThe Goregaon unitRizwan Khan son of Issar Khan proprietor of Rapti Steel said ldquoAround 1520 labourers are working on an average daily The authorities have instructed us to carry out the work only during the daytime The tender is limited only to selling of unused scrapmdashmachines that are obsolete or damagedrdquoAsked if they have also been tasked with demolishing the existing building and preserving some vestige for symbolic reasons he replied in the negative Of the estimated time it will take to complete the job Rizwan said ldquoIt may take a few weeksrdquoBottles of the iconic Energee drink at the Worli unit in 2010 File picRane AshishlsquoWorli dairy land with UD deptrsquoA senior official from Mantralaya said that the dairy development and animal husbandry departments had been merged since October 2024 and a single commissioner would handle both the departments unlike beforeThe official confirmed that the tender for selling of the plants and scrap at Goregaon Kurla and Worli had been floated ldquoA separate tender will be floated for demolition of the dilapidated structures at an appropriate timerdquo he saidAsked if the Worli dairy land still belonged to the dairy department the officer stated that during the Maha Vikas Aghadi regime the land was handed over to the BMC but after the new government came into power they ensured that the land was taken back It is now under the urban development departmentAn aerial view of the Kurla unit in 2014 PicsAtul KamblelsquoSystematic killingrsquoSince 2011 the dairy supplied only 20000 litres of milk per day a figure unheard of in its 45year history and operations ceased in 2014Insiders alleged that some people in power had a systematic plan to make the dairy a sick unit to grab precious land in Worli Kurla and Goregaon They say it all started in 2000 when the state government stopped allocating advertisement budgets running into R100 crore ceased spending on repairs and maintenance froze hiring and made it seem that the dairy was overstaffed dairyldquoThere were no modernisation schemes or advertising budgets allocated to step up milk production to face the competitive market All these factors only fuelled the fears of dairy workers There was a wellplanned conspiracy to allow Aarey to die a natural death which eventually happenedrdquo said Shankar Sutar a former shift manager at Kurla dairy who was also union president of Maharashtra State Government Employees Central Confederation Rajya Sarkari Karmachari Madhyavarti SanghatanaPicSatej ShindeA veritable goldmineHe added ldquoThe closure might mean megabucks for real estate developers eyeing the sprawling Aarey plots at Kurla Goregaon and most importantly Worli Sea FacerdquoFormer Aarey staffers confirmed that of the three units the Worli one is a ldquogold minerdquo as it is spread on 14 acres of prime land worth thousands of crores Kurla and Goregaon are spread on 25 acres of land each The former can fetch a market value of over R1000 crore while the latter being in a green zone cannot be used commerciallyPicSatej ShindeReal estate rating firm reactsPankaj Kapoor founder of Liases Foras a nonbroking real estate research company said ldquoNo doubt the location of Worli dairy with its uninterrupted sea view is nothing less than a gold mine ldquoSteady price appreciation has been seen in the last few years The price per square foot of seafacing land is between R1 lakh and R150 lakh 14 acres of prime dairy land depending on the usable FSI of 3 or 4 for construction would easily fetch a price running into anywhere between R6000 to R8000 crorerdquoAsked about the dairy land in Kurla and Goregaon Kapoor said ldquoThe prevailing per square foot rate in Kurla is approximately R30000 and above and as the land availability of the unit there is much more than that of the Worli dairy it is bound to command a greater price Goregaon falling under a green zone may not be easy for exploitation of land compared to Worli and Kurlardquo said KapoorPicSatej ShindelsquoVested interests doomed AareyShirish Virkar 72 former general manager of Aarey said the dairy could have been operational today but politicians with vested interests had doomed itHe said ldquoI had mooted the idea to convert dairy into a company and even submitted a detailed proposal to the state government As per the proposal all the government had to do was provide financial assistance of R100 crore as capital The proposal even stated that the entire amount would be returned to the government within five years This way Aarey would have been financially independent as it had both the lsquobrand and market demandrsquo But my proposal was put in cold storage as the government was not interested in reviving Aarey and was keen to see it die a natural deathrdquoVirkar added ldquoIt would have been still feasible to sell some of the machinery which could have still fetched a good price for the exchequer rather than giving it out at scraprdquoPicSatej ShindelsquoDairy can still be revivedrsquoVirkar expressed confidence that Aarey could be revived provided the state government enters into a commercial venture and hires the service of the right person who understands Aarey and the market sentiments ldquoEven with outsourcing the entire milk production to a third party by merely using Aarey the brand can be kept alive and turned aroundrdquo he saidEnergee crisisThe iconic Energee drink then called government milk came into existence in 1965 and was marketed by MAFCO The government had imported semiautomatic machinery from the Netherlands at the Worli dairy to produce it The brandrsquos problems started after the dairy tendered out procurement of bottles to Hindustan Glassware in October 2009 instead of the original supplier Mahalakshmi Glassware Hindustan Glassware was expected to manufacture three lakh nondisposable bottles but the 10000odd bottles delivered in the first lot were not as per specifications and the production was halted The bottles were expected to be airtight but were found unsatisfactory during the sealing processldquoEnergee is sterilised milk with no preservatives Therefore sealing was of utmost importance to prevent it from getting spoiledrdquo said a former Worli dairy official ldquoThe irony is that a machine that had a capacity to fill 12000 bottles per hour was always underutilisedrdquo he saidThe government had proposed to start another bottling plant at the Kurla dairy in the 1980s The plant had even started production but the building collapsed and the machinery was damaged beyond repair A factfinding committee was formed but nothing came out of itMeanwhile the Amsterdambased manufacturer had stopped making such machines ldquoIt was always our mechanics who carried out all repairsrdquo the official saidPicSatej ShindeAttempts to sell Energee in smaller disposable bottles through a publicprivate partnership with Punebased Sheetal Arch since 2009 also did not last longRoger C B Pereira 85 former CEO and managing director of RampPM Edelman and the man behind the name lsquoEnergeersquo said ldquoInstead of scrapping the Energee plant which was imported from the Netherlands the government could have archived it for future generations like other known monumental historic structures and plaques They could even have set up a dairy museum at each of the three locations where a dairy stood tall oncerdquoPereira feels the drink could be a profitable brand even today only because of loyal consumers ldquoThe dairy department could have outsourced production to a large private player in the market bringing in a muchrequired turnaround Mumbai still has a huge market for EnergeerdquoENERGEE drink FlashbackENERGEE came into existence in 1965 then called government milk and was marketed by MAFCO The government had imported semiautomatic machinery from the Netherlands at the Worli Dairy The problems started after the dairy tendered out procurement of bottles to Hindustan Glassware in October 2009 instead of the original suppliers Mahalakshmi Glassware Hindustan Glassware was expected to manufacture 3 lakh non disposable bottles for ENERGEE but the 10000 odd bottles they delivered in the first lot were not as per specifications and the production was halted The bottles were expected to be airtight but were found unsatisfactory during the sealing processENERGEE being a sterilised milk with no preservatives and therefore the sealing was of utmost importance to prevent it from getting spoiled said an official who worked at the Worli dairy The irony is that the machine that had a capacity to fill in 12000 bottles per hour has always been underutilisedThe government had proposed to start another bottling plant at Aareyrsquos Kurla dairy in the 1980s The plant had even started production but the building collapsed and the machinery was damaged beyond repair A factfinding committee was formed but nothing came out of itThe Amsterdambased manufacturer had stopped making such machines It was always our mechanics who carried out all repairs because of which it is still operational or it would have shut down long ago a dairy official informedAttempts to sell Energee through a PublicPrivate partnership by Pune based Sheetal Arch in smaller disposable bottle of 200ml since 2009 also did not last longThe man who gave the name lsquoEnergeersquo to AareyRoger C B Pereira 85 former CEO and Managing Director of RampPM Edelman is the man responsible for giving Aarey the popular brand name lsquoENERGEErsquo way back in 1981 was then running an advertising agency by name of Shilpi Advertising Limited He was then CEO amp Director of Shilpi Advertising LtdHow the name came upIt was during a brainstorming session his colleague Cyrus Bharucha had suggested the name lsquoENERGYrsquo which was not approved by the Trade Mark registrar as the name was in the dictionary It was Pereira who then decided to misspell the name from lsquoENERGYrsquo to lsquoENERGEErsquo and it was finally approvedThe birth of ENERGEEPereira recalled that the first chief minister of Maharashtra Yashwantrao Chavan was then the defence minister and was the chief guest for an award function organized at Gujarat Bhavan Ahmedabad where Pereira was felicitated by then Gujarat governor Ms Sharda Mukherjee wife of late first Indian Air Marshal Mukherjee for successfully championing entrepreneurial development in Gujarat Chavan approached Pereira and connected him to Vasantdada Patil then Chief Minister of Maharashtra and V Srinivasan then Secretary Agriculture and Dairy Developmenthe discussed that their government milk ENERGEE later on was not capturing market since its launch 15 years agoThen State Secretary for Agriculture and Dairy V Srinivasan visited Pereira in his Ballard Estate office and discussed in length about the government milk the plant and machinery had a capacity of manufacturing 93000 bottles of milk daily but they were struggling to sell even 7000 bottles a day The government was then selling the milk at 75 paise per bottle against Thumbs Up which was being sold for Rs 125 per bottle said PereiraInterestingly the government milk had no brand name then It was Pereira who asked Srinivasan if he knew any child in the world without a name and when he replied in negative Pereira insisted on giving a name to the government milk Srinivasan was interested to know why soft drinks were being sold more than milk which otherwise is good for health Pereira informed that it was due to the power of brandingAs per the brand exercise all the 16000 odd bottles were put in thrash and it was decided to give the bottle a look similar to soft drink bottles and the current bottle developed The name lsquoEnergeersquo was approved in January 1981 and the new market launch of Energee was done on March 17 1981 Gudi Padva day and within a month the sale figures crossed 93000 bottles per day It later became a Havard case study A brand which enjoyed its success even after close to two decadesPereira is upset on learning the plight of dairy today ldquoSrinivasan wanted to make lsquoENERGEErsquo a national drink and aimed to make it available all over the country but as good bureaucrats are never wanted he was transferred to the World Bank and the government did not do anything for promoting ENERGEE The problem of the diary collapsing and shut was a manmade disasterrdquo said PereiraFlash back ndash untold story of AareyAarey Milk Colony Goregaon though established in 1949 this was the first dairy to start under the Bombay Milk Scheme inaugurated by first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in 1951 the year when the dairy became operational followed by Kurla Mother Dairy set up using funds given by UNICEF and Worli Dairy Virkar recalledThere are many first attached to the Dairy which people today may not be aware about A Global tender was floated in Washington DC for procurement of machinery for Aarey during its inspection Aarey was the first dairy in entire Asia to have its own bottling plant pasteurization plant etc The flavored milk which later popularly was known as lsquoENERGEErsquo machine was imported from Amsterdam based manufacturing company in Netherlands Almost a decade later when the company representative visited the ENERGEE plant in Worli Dairy still functional he was shocked as the estimated life of the machine was to be 10 years and that the company had already stopped production of the machineUnanswered question by Suresh Patil who worked for 37 years at the Worli dairy as a technologist1 Was any feasibility study conducted to ascertain if the dairy machines were actually obsolete2 How was the reserved price for each dairy arrived at3 A liquid ammonia plant was purchased in 2012 at the Goregaon dairy for approximately R90 lakh This machine was never used so why was it scrapped