Milk supply in Puducherry has been hit for the past three days as the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) stopped supply to the Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union (Ponlait) over the issue of procurement price.
Ponlait used to procure 20,000 litres of milk a day from Karnataka. Puducherry requires around 1.10 lakh litres of milk a day. The society procures around 50,000 litres from the local primary cooperative societies and meets the deficit by buying milk from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
“Since the last four days, the KMF stopped supply as it found another buyer to procure milk at a much better price than Ponlait. Now, the sale has come down from 80,000 litres to 69,000 litres a day. There is a shortage of around 15,000 litres a day. Several booths go dry by 8 a.m. itself,” said a Ponlait employee.
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Social Welfare Minister M. Kandasamy, who holds the Cooperative portfolio, said the government could not afford to spend more on buying milk. “If we are spending more for procurement, we will have to increase the price. We are trying to find an alternative supplier,” he said.