07 March 2005	Monday	25 Muharram 1426

KARACHI, March 6: The meeting of the committee, which was assigned the task of evaluating and finalizing the wholesale and retail prices of milk, failed to reach a consensus with representatives of dairy farmers and retailers complaining of undue pressure on the part of the city government.

The committee, comprising officials of the city government and representatives of dairy farmers and retail milk sellers, met here on Saturday and tried to bring down the retail milk price which has been increased from Rs22 to Rs28 per litre.

The CDGK members, who had already undertaken a detailed study of the cost of milk production in their visits to cattle colony and other markets, told the other members of the committee that Rs22 per litre was a reasonable rate and should not be raised. However, the dairy farmers claimed that the actual milk production cost had now gone up to Rs32.31 per litre.

A senior committee member from the government side, who asked not to be named, said that his side fully realized that public interest was of prime importance and any increase in milk prices could spark off resentment among consumers. However, he added, dairy farmers appeared stubborn in their attitude due to their own business interests.

The rigid attitude of milk sellers and dairy farmers irked City Nazim Niamatullah Khan who walked out of the meeting when they refused to show any flexibility in their stand and kept insisting that the wholesale and retail prices be fixed at Rs26 and Rs28 per litre respectively.

According to the official, the city government was striving hard to convince the dairy farmers and retailers to agree on a price that may be affordable for common man who has already been groaning under inflationary trend in the prices of other essential commodities.

About the inconclusive talks on Saturday, the official said that the committee would meet again on Monday to resume the deliberations.

The dairy farmers contended that it was not feasible for them to sell the milk at Rs22 per litre due to meteoric rise in the cost of buffalo, green fodder, wheat straw, cottonseed cake and transportation, besides labour charges.

The retailers argued that they were also facing the problems like increase in utility tariffs, shopping bags, labour charges and other overheads.

General-Secretary of the Karachi Dairy Farmers Association Abdul Hameed Wakeel pointed out that by agreeing on Rs26 per litre as wholesale rate, his organization had actually agreed to suffer a loss of Rs5 per litre, as the actual cost was Rs32.31 per litre.

He regretted that still, the government was exerting pressure to force them to agree on Rs22 per litre, a rate fixed in 1999, in fact. He said this was not possible.

He said that the association had also asked the committee on Saturday to form a new committee comprising people from dairy farming technology and livestock department. He observed that some members of the present committee had no idea of dairy farming business.

Differences among the three sides could be gauged from the fact that they could not even agree on a single report and, instead, issued three separate reports, although those prepared by dairy farmers and retailers contained similar demands.