Your morning cup of coffee and tea depends on these men and women. Rain or shine, the milk dealers ensure that the daily packets reach you on time.
But, they say, they have no access to ESI or insurance cover against accidents or death. They are now demanding that the State government set up a welfare board for them.
S.A. Ponnusamy, State president, Tamil Nadu Milk Dealers Welfare Association, explained that there was no support system for dealers. “If the sole bread winner of the family meets with an accident or dies, nothing can be done. Last October, in Chennai, a dealer on his way to supply milk died in an accident. His family had nowhere to go,” he said. There are over 1.5 lakh milk dealers in the State and, every day, their work starts by 1.30 a.m.,” explained the association’s State general secretary, T. Thirugnanam.
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“A welfare board will provide us with ID cards, financial assistance in case there is an accident, and also ensure us pension. Many times, those who supply milk to the consumers are old people; they too need some kind of support,” said Mr. Ponnusamy.