The Government will spend Rs. 4.64 for 150 ml of flavoured milk to be supplied to schoolchildren thrice a week under the Ksheera Bhagya scheme to be launched by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at Hoskote on Thursday.
The 150 ml of milk to be supplied to children will be converted from 18 grams of whole milk powder.
Thrice a week, flavoured milk will be supplied to 65 lakh students in I to X standards in 51,000 government schools in the State. It is expected to cost Rs. 384 crore till March 2014.
“The Karnataka Milk Federation will supply 1.17 lakh kilograms of whole milk powder daily, which would be converted to milk at the school level by mixing it with hot water,” KMF Chairman G. Somashekar Reddy told presspersons here on Wednesday.
According to him, to convert milk to milk powder, 5.8 lakh litres of milk is required daily.
“The shelf life of whole milk powder is three months,” he added.
Initially, federation managing director A.S. Premnath said, they had requested the Education Department to supply milk powder once a month along with the provisions meant for midday meal scheme. “Till we are able to supply milk in flexi packs, the powder would be supplied in packets. We estimate that Rs. 160 crore is required to set up flexi pack packaging units in Bangalore, Tumkur, Dharwad and Mangalore,” he said.
