Mohali: Verka milk supply affected

Mohali: Supply of Verka milk was affected in parts of the tricity as secretaries of village-level milk producers’ cooperative societies gathered in protest outside the Verka milk plant in Mohali over the system of automatically recording the fat content in milk provided by dairy farmers. The protesters reached the plant around 12.30 pm and continued the agitation till evening. Verka plant officials said the protest had only a ‘marginal’ impact on the supply chain but residents were unable to buy milk at several places in Mohali, Chandigarh and Zirakpur. The secretaries said they were against the milk plant’s decision to calculate and record the fat content in milk through an automated machine system.
When contacted, Verka milk plant officials said the matter was resolved after a meeting in the evening. Verka MD Kamal Kumar Garg said members of the societies had gathered at the site and were demanding that the fat content be recorded only manually. He said, “They questioned the automatic recording of fat content in milk fearing failure of the system. But we held a meeting with them and addressed their concerns in the evening. We have stopped the automatic system for a week to consider other concerns. We will eventually implement the automatic system to streamline the work.” When asked about the disruption in the supply of milk and related products due to the protest, he said milk is sent for sale every morning. “There was only a minor impact on milk supply in the evening. This has also been taken care of after the protest is over,” he said. On the other hand, residents said they were not able to buy milk from many sweet shops.