Daily Times

KARACHI: Karachi Commissioner Ejaz Ahmed Khan ordered on Friday that a crackdown would be launched against retail and wholesale loose milk sellers who refused to sell milk at government-approved prices.

Earlier on Thursday, a meeting held review the ongoing milk crisis in the city decided to revise the prices of the dairu product from Rs85 to Rs95. An official notification was yet to be issued by Friday evening.

Commissioner Khan warned milk sellers that strict action would be taken against them they were found selling the daily use item on higher rates.

Meanwhile, a group of consumers on social media announced a three-day boycott of loose milk in a bid to compel the proprietors to bring down its prices.

On Wednesday, the crisis emerged in Karachi as most of the retailers closed down their shops in protest against the difference between government notified prices and the prices at which they were buying from wholesale farmers.

They complained that they would not be forced to sell milk at the government-approved price of Rs85 per litre, saying that they were unable to break even after purchasing milk at Rs95 per litre.

“Wholesalers are selling us at a price that is nine rupees higher than what the government has set for us,” a retailer said on Friday, “We have stopped purchasing milk since yesterday.”

In a statement issued late Wednesday night, Shakir Umar Gujjar, the president of the Dairy and Cattle Farms Association (DCFA), had maintained that the price of milk for farms had been set at Rs 86 per litre.

Published in Daily Times, March 17^th 2018.