Min seeks police protection for milk tankers

Nagpur: Maharashtra minister for dairy development Mahadev Jankar has sought police protection for milk tankers to ensure that supplies to Mumbai and other cities in the state are not affected.
Talking to ToI on Friday, Jankar said after the recent policy announcement of giving a Rs 50 per kg export incentive to milk powder manufacturers and another Rs5 per lire to milk exporters, some organizations have threatened to stop milk supplies to the state capital and other cities.

There is also an apprehension that milk cooperatives and societies would now prefer to sell to powder manufacturers hoping to make more money instead of sending tankers to cities where consumer demand is high. The political outfit led by farmers’ leader Raju Shetty had also threatened to block milk supply from Gujarat to Mumbai to protest against poor milk procurement rates fixed by Maharashtra.

Jankar said the matter had come up in the state legislature earlier this week following which he had convened a high-level meeting which was presided over by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Opposition leaders and other ministers were also part of the meeting in which it was decided to provide Rs 50 a kg incentive to milk powder exporters from the state and also give Rs5 a litre on milk exports.

“The export incentive would no doubt boost the demand and ultimately firm up milk prices increasing farmers’ income. We have also decided to promote milk in the various nutrition programmes for schoolchildren for increasing the demand of milk,” said Jankar.

But looking at the threat of disrupting supplies to cities, Jankar said he had talks with top police officials in the state and requested them to provide, if needed, police escorts to milk tankers to cities. He has also appealed to the suppliers to see to it that the supply is not affected and take police help for smooth movement of supplies.