08 March 2005	Tuesday	26 Muharram 1426

KARACHI, March 7: The committee constituted by City Nazim Niamatullah Khan to evolve a consensus on the wholesale and retail rates of milk went into a fresh session on Monday but could not reach a conclusion as all the three sides - the city government, the dairy farmers and the retail milk sellers - remained stuck to their stands.

The committee members representing the city government finally submitted their report to the DCO after the meeting. The report highlights the facts and figures, as well as the findings of the lengthy deliberations over the last two days.

It could not be confirmed through official sources whether the government side had in its report proposed any rates to be fixed, but an official did reveal that during the whole deliberations, it had remained firm in its stand that there should be no increase in the prescribed milk rates, i.e. Rs22 (wholesale) and Rs24 (retail) per litre.

On condition of anonymity, he said that one group of dairy farmers had offered Rs24 (wholesale) and Rs26 (retail) per litre whereas another group had proposed the rate at Rs22.50 and Rs25 respectively.

However, those representing dairy farmers and retailers in the committee did not agree on soften their stands. The meeting, therefore, ended without reaching a conclusion. Another city government official said that the city nazim would be informed about the outcome of the meeting on Tuesday.

It was not clear whether the efforts to evolve a consensus would continue or the city nazim would ask the DCO, who is also the controller of general prices, to fix the official rates arbitrarily.

In the meantime, an NGO, the Pak Educational Society, worked out the production cost of milk and submitted a proposal to the city government. It puts the production cost at Rs147 per day which meant that the actual cost of per litre milk should be around Rs10.50.