Shillong, Sep 3 : A rise in price of milk here amid reports of supply of adulterated milk by private distributors in parts of Meghalaya has become a cause of concern for the common man, triggering a war of words between the animal husbandry and health departments.
The association of milkmen in East Khasi Hills has increased price of milk from Rs 24 to Rs 28 a litre on the ground that the hike has been necessitated by an increase in prices of cattle feed and other essential commodities.
The deputy commissioner, East Khasi Hills, J. Lyngdoh, agreed the price rise would inconvenience the poor.
“It is a bit high and there is a need to reduce the price.”
Lyngdoh said he would coordinate with the animal husbandry department to explore whether the price could be reduced.
According to Lyngdoh, reports of supply of adulterated milk by the private suppliers need to be probed.
The officials of the ani-mal husbandry department said the government had no control over the price fixed by the private milk suppliers.
Lyngdoh said the animal husbandry department, however, cannot shirk its responsibility of controlling the price of milk and checking its quality as well.
According to officials of the animal husbandry department, the government has milk plants only in Shillong, Tura and Jowai from where milk is distributed to the registered milk supply units and the consumers.
The current price fixed by the government is Rs 25 per litre and 5,000 litres of milk are distributed by the government in Shillong.
A majority of the localities, however, depend on private milk suppliers and the consumers make frequent allegations that adulterated milk is being supplied to them.
While the government plants have a mechanism to ensure the quality, there is no centralised system to check milk supplied by the private distributors.
The director of animal husbandry and veterinary department, L. Lyngwa, said it was up to the food inspectors under the health department to check the quality of milk supplied by the private milk units.
According to the director of health services, A.S. Kynjing, food inspectors are sent only when there is a complaint from any quarter.
Several milk consumers say regular area-wise checking of quality of milk supplied by the private units help the dishonest milk suppliers go scot free.
The health department said in a vast area like Shillong, it is difficult to send the food inspectors on a regular basis to various localities and added that they could only act when there are specific complaints.
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