Residents of Puducherry have been experiencing an acute milk scarcity in the last few weeks.
Sources said the Pondicherry Milk Producers’ Cooperative Union, which mainly depends upon Aavin and private diary farms in Tamil Nadu for supplying milk to residents of Puducherry under the name of ‘Ponlait,’ has reduced production to 40 per cent out of its total capacity.
There were reports that people had to wait at Ponlait booths to avoid being told that there was no stock.
The drastic reduction in supply of milk by Aavin in Tamil Nadu to Pondicherry Milk Producers’ Cooperative Union is said to be the main reason for the scarcity.
Reports said that Aavin, which was expected to supply 70,000 to 80,000 litres a day, had been maintaining supply of just 30,000 litres a day during the last few weeks. Though the issue was brought to the notice of authorities at Aavin, there was no improvement in supply.
Trouble reportedly started since the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Tamil Nadu that resulted in poor milk production. Though there was marginal improvement in milk supply by cattle growers in the recent weeks in Tamil Nadu, it had not made any remarkable difference in supply of Aavin milk to Puducherry.
Acknowledging the scarcity, G. Ragesh Chandra, Secretary, Cooperatives, told The Hindu that Puducherry required 1 lakh to 1,10,000 litres of milk a day. Supply from local cattle growers had not gone up beyond 15,000 litres a day. However, a minimum supply of milk to residents was being maintained to manage the situation. Stating that the government was taking sincere steps to solve the issue, Mr. Chandra said private dairy farms in Tamil Nadu had been approached to improve the situation. There would be some improvement in the days to come.
