Govt lowers its free milk target

BENGALURU: Considering the pressure the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) is under, the state government on Saturday evening revised its earlier order of free milk supply from 8.10 lakh litres to 7.75 lakh litres. The order was revised after assessing the milk supplied and available with KMF to distribute free to the needy. To fill the gap of 0.35 lakh litres, the KMF has asked private players to chip in. 

KMF Managing Director BC Sateesh told TNSE that on Thursday, the state government had demanded 8.10 lakh litres. But on Friday, the first day, only 4.09 lakh litres could be supplied and on Saturday morning, 8.10 lakh litres was supplied. 

“We (KMF) procure 68-70 lakh litres per day, of which 40-42 lakh litres is supplied to regular consumers. Another 42 lakh litres is powdered. The remaining 7-7.5 lakh litres was earlier supplied every day to Kerala, Maharashtra, Goa, Telangana and Andhara Pradesh and to hotels and malls. But it has stopped due to the lockdown.

This excess milk is being supplied free. So far, no milk sachets have come back, which explains the need,” he said. Another KMF official said that the government had asked for 8.10 lakh litres based on the number of slums and dwellers. There are 8.89 lakh slum-dwellers in the state, of which the largest chunk (4.09 lakh) is in Bengaluru.  The official said KMF is finding it difficult to supply milk to homes before 7am and to manufacture packing material due to labour shortage.