KARACHI, Dec 11: Fresh milk retailers have refused to sell at official rate of Rs28 per litre, while the city government is launching a price checking drive from Tuesday to ensure compliance.

The retailers on Monday met some senior city government officials and apprised them about their problems for not selling the commodity at the official rate. However, the officials made it clear that if retailers were found overcharging they would be fined or sent to jails.

President All Karachi Milk Retailers Welfare Association (AKMRA) M. Nisar said that the retailers were being forced to sell the commodity under cost as they were getting fresh milk at Rs30 per litre from the wholesalers. Dairy farmers/wholesalers have increased the rates to Rs30 from Rs28.20 from December 1, 2006, he added.

However, he did not reveal about their future course of action in case the retailers were sent to jails and imposed fines.

He said that dairy farmers (milk producers) always fixed the price on annual basis from March to end February. “Now they have suddenly increased the rates on the basis of steep rise in the prices of cattle feed”.

He recalled that some 1,645 retailers were imposed fines of Rs4.8 million in Ramazan this year while 57 were sent to jails for overcharging.

Nisar said that the association had been trying hard to point out to the city government about the actual increase from the wholesalers and dairy farmers, but the government was bent upon grabbing the retailers thus ignoring the stakeholders who were actually responsible for price hike.

He said that tetra pack and powder milk producers had been increasing their rates phenomenally and it seemed that they were enjoying a free hand in the absence of any check.

In 1998 officially notified difference/margin (cost plus profit) of retailers was Rs2 per litre. During the last eight years the cost had gone very high due to the constant rise in prices. Retailers have been providing milk to the consumers at 10 per cent less than eight years back officially approved margin thus bearing constant financial loss, he explained.

Even they are meted out insulting behaviour by imposing heavy fines and punishments by the special magistrates, he added.

A city government official said that all the DDOs and Mukhtarkars and EDOs also met on Monday to finalise the price checking campaign with main focus on wholesalers this time. He said consumers would see positive results of this campaign very soon.