Downtrodden families hit by the lockdown saw some relief as the State government’s programme to distribute milk for free was launched here on Friday.
Minister in-charge of the district Jagadish Shettar launched the programme at an event at Bhvikatti Plot here. MLAs Aravind Bellad, Amrut Desai; Deputy Commissioner M. Deepa, HDMC Commissioner Suresh Itnal, senior officials of Karnataka Milk Federation, and others were present.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Shettar said that as a result of the lockdown to combat COVID-19, all KMF units had surplus stock of milk. Therefore, the government had decided to distribute the same to weaker sections of society.
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About 50,000 families in the district including 37,000 families of various slum areas of Hubballi-Dharwad city limits and 5,000 migrant labourers, brick kiln and construction workers, and others would benefit by this. Both declared and undeclared slums would be covered under this programme. As of now, each family would be provided with half a litre of milk and this would be enhanced to 1 litre if more milk was made available. The Dharwad Milk Union (DMU) would provide 25,000 litres of milk everyday for this purpose. The government would buy the milk from KMF and arrange for distribution, he said.
He said people need not panic but co-operate with the administration. The administration had already arranged for the door delivery of vegetables. Similar arrangements would be made to deliver grocery and other essential commodities, he said.
To a query, Mr. Shettar defended the police beating up the people venturing outside without valid reasons. “Sometimes, use of force becomes necessary to bring the situation under control. Public should not give scope for such things to happen,” he said.
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Meanwhile, members of People for Animals, an NGO have taken up the task of feeding stray animals in the city. Their volunteers are feeding eggs, biscuits, and rice to strays and fodder and water to stray cattle.