Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Minister rules out milk price hike

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Food and Dairy Minister C. Divakaran, on Saturday, lashed out at the milk cooperative Milma for giving an “ultimatum” to the State government for increasing the price of milk.

He was speaking at an open forum on “Milk shortage and price rise,” organised here by the Confederation of Consumer Vigilance Centre.

The Minister said Milma should not indulge in practices that amounted to challenging people. The “ultimatum” came after the Chief Minister personally assured its office-bearers that their appeal for help would be considered.

He said Milma should not function as a mere profit-mongering company, but should uphold the values of social commitment. It must withdraw the “ultimatum” that it would stop milk supply if the price was not increased by a particular date. Instead, it must assure the public that it would continue to distribute milk even by suffering losses, and must explore strategies to cover losses.

He said the government would accept any proposal other than that for increasing the milk price by Rs. 3 a litre to cover losses.

Strongly contesting the argument of Milma that the increase in price had been mooted to cover losses, the Minister asked, “Did the customers receive any benefits when Milma had been making profits in the past?”

“Milma is making a profit of 22 paise a litre on the milk procured by it from the domestic market even now,” he said.

“The reported loss is only on the limited quantity of milk procured from Karnataka. But when a price hike is imposed, it will be applicable to the entire quantity of milk being distributed by Milma.”

Pointing out that the cooperative was distributing only 20 per cent of the milk being consumed in the State, while private milk companies took the remaining market share, Mr. Divakaran said if the milk price was increased, only the latter would benefit.

Asserting that the government would not buckle under pressure from Milma, he said all steps had been taken to ensure smooth supply of milk. The government was keen to see that Milma continued to distribute milk. But if it was not cooperating, the government would be forced to think of alternatives.

He said Milma office-bearers had first launched a campaign of milk shortage and impending price rise. The present government had increased milk price twice on the demand of the cooperative. But it was still unable to increase milk procurement even by a drop after those price increases.

He said the government was exploring measures to give feed subsidies and other benefits directly to dairy farmers.

Kallada Remesh, Chairman, Milma Thiruvananthapuram region, said the cooperative would not be able to retract from its earlier stand to stop procurement of milk from Karnataka unless the government increased the price, because the decision was taken by its general body.

Managing Director Sanjeeb Patjoshi spoke.

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