We will not let dairy farmers milk us for our money: city chief

Lala Fazlur Rehman threatens to evict dairy farmers do not give up ‘illegally occupied’ land.

KARACHI:

Dairy farmers went in for a meeting with the city administrator on Monday, hoping to fight for a 10-rupee price increase. But not only was Lala Fazlur Rehman in no mood to allow them to take prices up, he maintained the upper hand by reminding them that he would evict people who had “illegally” set up dairy farms on city government land.

“Dairy farmers had unlawfully jacked up the price of milk in three months but they were not authorised to raise prices until a year had passed,” Rehman said to the media later.

Additionally, for the first time, the city government has come up with a strategy to cut the supply line of milk if dairy farmers don’t follow the rules. “Retailers should not purchase milk in bulk at higher rates or else even they would be taken to task,” the administrator warned.

The only concession City Administrator Fazlur Rehman agreed on, was to allow dairy farmers to charge one more rupee for a litre of milk, to fix it at Rs60. They, on the other hand, wanted to charge 10 rupees more and take it up to Rs68.

Dairy farmers have argued that it has become more expensive to produce and transport milk. After a meeting with their representatives, the administrator addressed a press conference at the DCO Camp Office.

The Citizens-Police Liaison Committee chief Ahmed Chinoy, Consumers Forum chairperson Huma Bukhari and municipal services EDO Masood Alam flanked him.

“Those who consider themselves above the law should understand that nobody should challenge the government’s writ,” Rehman said. “The city government has completed its homework and is ready to start an operation in the next few days to recover the illegally occupied land.”

The revenue EDO has been directed to kick off the operation. He said the CPLC has also been taken on board to curb profiteering.

The CDGK has appealed to consumers to boycott expensive milk for a few days, said Rehman while talking to The Express Tribune. If this is successful, the dairy farmer monopoly will end soon.

Rehman said the decision of evicting public land from the possession of the dairy farmers is final and there would be no compromise.

Farmers react

Dairy farmers refused to accept the city’s proposal of a one-rupee per litre increase in milk prices. Sikandar Nagori of the Karachi Dairy Farmers Welfare Association told The Express Tribune that an enterprises and investment promotions department official had accepted Rs62.63 per litre as the cost of milk production during a meeting on March 28. “They duped the dairy farmers today (Monday),” he claimed. Milk would be sold at Rs68 per litre, he maintained.

Dairy farmers would dump their milk in the sewage drains if the CDGK tries to block the supply line, he warned.

“We will anxiously wait for the CDGK team to evict us from our land,” he challenged.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 5^th,  2011.