Verka milk supply affected as coop societies protest
Mohali, August 21
The supply of Verka milk remained affected in parts of the tricity as secretaries of milk producers’ cooperative societies at village-levels gathered in protest outside the Verka milk plant in Mohali over the system of recording the fat content in the milk that is provided by dairy farmers automatically. The protesters reached the plant at around 12.30 pm and continued the agitation till evening.
While the officials of the Verka plant said the protest had only a ‘marginal’ effect on the supply chain, residents were unable to procure milk at numerous places in Mohali, Chandigarh and Zirakpur.
The secretaries said they were against the milk plant’s decision to calculate and record fat content in milk through an automatic machine system.
When contacted, officials of the Verka milk plant said the matter was resorted after a meeting in the evening.
Kamal Kumar Garg, MD, Verka, said the members of the societies had gathered at the site, demanding that the fat content be recorded manually, only. He said, “They questioned the automatic recording of fat content in milk, in the fears of a failure of the system. But we held a meeting with them and addressed their concerns in the evening. We have kept the automatic system on hold for a week to look into other concerns. We will eventually implement the automatic system to streamline the work.”
When asked about disruption in the supply of milk and related products due to the protest, he said milk was dispatched for sale every morning. “There was only a marginal affect on the milk supply in the evening. That has also been taken care of after the protest was lifted,” he added.
Residents, on the other hand, said they were not able to procure milk from numerous confectionary shops.
