GUWAHATI, May 11 � The Milk Consumers� Forum has resented the hike in milk prices stressing that there was no justification behind this step. Milk, which is important for people of all age groups, is also one of the easily adulterated food items in the State.
The convenor of the forum, Dr LP Deka said that this increase in milk price was not acceptable to the consumers because the producers and suppliers often fail to ensure the quality of the milk. Dr Deka insisted that the authorities concerned should adopt practices like random collection of milk samples to ascertain whether the producers and suppliers had maintained the quality of the milk.
�The milk producers should come forward with a substantial reason for increasing the milk price,� said Dr Deka adding that the retail price of milk was varying with a section of suppliers asking for Rs 32 to Rs 35 per litre as of date.
It needs to be mentioned here that the hike in milk price has not gone down well with the citizens, including the sweet meat shops.
An employee of a sweet meat shop, Mandakini, located at Wireless, said that earlier they used to purchase milk at the whole sale rate of Rs 26 per litre. �Now the supplier is asking for Rs 30 per litre. This is the new wholesale rate we are paying and for this we have been compelled to increase the prices of certain sweets like boiled cake, kalakand, etc,� he said.
The price of paneer has soared in the recent days because of the increase in milk price. The price of paneer has jumped up from Rs 250 per kg to Rs 280 per kg.
The forum has demanded of the government to ensure that the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act was strictly implemented in the State so that consumers were saved the double agony of paying high price and getting low standard food items. �There is also a big gap between demand and supply of milk in the State,� said Dr Deka.
On the other hand, a Food Inspector of Guwahati informed that since the hike in milk prices, 14 samples collected randomly within Kamrup (Metro) have been sent to the State Public Health Laboratory for testing its quality. The official informed that the reports of three samples have come and one is found adulterated. The report of the other 11 samples is expected to come by this month.
