Nandini milk dealers who stock your favourite milk and other products from Dakshina Kannada Cooperative Milk Producers Union (DKMUL) had their side of the story to tell when they were felicitated on Tuesday – World Milk Day.
They told The Hindu that they have to bear with leaking milk packets and shortfall of the popular Dharwad Phede.
Lata Ganesh Rao, a milk dealer from Puttur who sells over 550 litres of milk every day, said leaking milk packets had been a problem for quite some time. “A couple of days ago, as many as five packets (of one litre) of milk were damaged.” Ms. Rao said she had to bear with the loss as leakages could not be spotted at the time of delivery, which is generally around midnight. DKMUL insists that distributors must spot leaks at the time of delivery and get replacements. “Otherwise we bear with losses.” Ms. Rao said leakages are spotted more during June.
Another dealer pointed to the erratic supply of products such as “Ghee” and “Dharwad Phede”. “When there is a demand, we get the standard reply that there is not enough stock,” said the dealer, who has been selling Nandini milk and other products for nearly a decade.
Leeka Ida Fernandes, a milk dealer from Punjalkatte, did not have any complaints about milk or its products. Ms. Fernandes, who sells about 170 litres of milk a day, complained about delay in supply due to traffic jams on the B.C. Road. Ms. Rao and Ms. Fernandes were among the many milk dealers from Udupi and Dakshina Kannada felicitated by the DKMUL on Tuesday.
President of DKMUL Raviraj Hegde said the union was procuring 2.41 lakh litres of milk locally and sourcing 89,000 litres from other districts. “In all we sell nearly 3.3 lakh litres every day,” he said. Managing Director of DKMUL B. Satyanarayana said the union decided to not to replace the leaking packets because of fake claims. “We now send extra milk packets in each of the delivery van and replacement has to be done on the spot,” Mr. Satyanarayana said.
He said there was no scarcity of ghee. But there is a problem in meeting the demand for Dharward Phede. “We do not order it from Dharwad during June and July as moisture in coastal area affects the quality,” he said.
