Irked private milk firms may drag Dairy minister to court

Dairy Development Minister KT Rajenthira Balaji’s threat of tough action against private companies in the state for alleged use of chemicals to increase the shelf life of milk has not gone down well among stakeholders. 

Some of the private players have decided to move the court over the minister’s allegation. In a recent statement, the Minister said he would consult Chief Minister Edappadi K Palanisamy on banning private players, who used hazardous chemicals to increase the shelf life of their milk.  

While the Minister has not named any company, four major private milk firms have been infuriated by the Minister’s accusations, top officials of Aavin said.  Sources also revealed that private milk companies have planned to move the court against the Minister when it reopens after the summer vacation.

When contacted, top Aavin officials said that they were unaware of the Minister’s threat and added that they could react only after reading his statement in full. They also asked media persons to directly contact the Minister in this regard. However, the Dairy Development Minister refused to answer the repeated calls from this reporter. 

Aavin officials added, “Despite testing private companies milk at the Mysuru-based NDRI (National Dairy Research Institute) regularly for over ten years, no adulterants were ever discovered.” However, the Minister’s diatribe is said to be the result of private milk players not being responsive. Some of whom often do not even answer calls from the department, officials said. 

This was the fallout of an order some time ago, which brought private companies handling more than 1 lakh litres daily under the control of the Union government, the official said and added, while those handling less than this quantity came under the state milk commissioner. In fact, most companies procured less, but claimed to procure more and thus escaped state control, they explained.