Battery-run Omfed e-carts gather dust

BHUBANESWAR: Almost three years ago, chief minister Naveen Patnaik had flagged off Omfed e-carts to facilitate doorstep delivery of milk and dairy products here. Today, when these carts could have come to a lot of use, they are nowhere to be seen.
Around 16 Omfed carts are gathering dust here. Pictures of the battery-operated carts in disrepair are doing the rounds of the social media, prompting residents to question the government.
"The Omfed should distribute milk and dairy products during the lockdown through these e-carts but half of them are lying unused. Private companies are using different techniques to reach out to their customers, but Omfed is snoozing," said Krushna Mohan Jena, a resident.
The battery-operated carts, launched on August 1, 2018, were supposed to help Omfed deliver milk to residential colonies, apartments, market areas, housing complexes and other localities. Among the other products on offer were flavoured milk, plain curd, sweet curd, lassi, butter milk, chenapoda, paneer, rabidi, peda, khoa and ice cream.
The state's milk major had procured 50 e-carts by spending Rs 1 crore. As many as 14 carts had been deployed in Bhubaneswar, while the rest were spread out across different cities, including Cuttack, Balasore and Berhampur.
Somesh Upadhyay, chief general manager of Omfed, said the e-carts would be repaired within a week. "Some of them are defective. We have asked the supplier to repair them," he said.
Meanwhile, milk farmers accused Omfed of buying less milk from them despite the situation normalising to a large extent.