Karachi admin fails to ensure sale of milk at official rate

KARACHI: The Karachi administration has completely failed to ensure the sale of milk at official rates as the commodity is being sold at Rs 140 per litre against the government rate of Rs 110 in the metropolis.

The city administration has now fixed the retail price of milk at Rs120 per litre, while the price for dairy farmers has been set at Rs105/litre.

The wholesale price of the commodity has been fixed at Rs110 per litre, according to a notification issued by Karachi Commissioner Iqbal Memon.

When asked why they were not complying with the government rate, a shopkeeper said that they were compelled to sell milk at a higher price as the dairy farmers had refused to provide the commodity at the official rates.

Earlier, the commissioner had chaired a meeting and reviewed the prices of milk.

The city administration also decided it would take legal action against those who violate the government rates and that it would review the prices of milk every three months.

Karachi Additional Commissioner Jawad Muzaffar, all deputy commissioners, representatives of the Dairy Farmers Association, Wholesalers Association and Retailers Association, the officials from the Bureau of Supply and Prices Livestock Department, food authority and others, attended the meeting.

The participants of the meeting hashed out the report of a review committee set up under the deputy commissioner of Malir.

The Karachi commissioner said the new milk rates have been decided in light of the report, which reviewed the production cost of milk in consultation with farmers, wholesalers and retailers.