The city administration will listen to the grievances of dairy farmers and milkmen if they have real ones but first they should follow the official rates, said Karachi Commissioner Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui on Tuesday.
The ‘adventure’ initiated by the milk men to raise prices have jeopardised the situation in the city as some milk shops have been sealed by the administration and many others have been shuttered down by milkmen. Though the city administration has been carrying out crackdown against profiteers in the city for long, it could not bring down milk prices at official rates of Rs 70 as milk was sold at Rs 80/kg or more. Even reduction in oil prices could not affect milk rates.
“The way dairy farmers have reacted to the price-hike of injections is not sensible. They should not try to challenge writ of the government,” Siddiqui said. He asked how somebody could himself decide prices without permission of the government. “It was illegitimate. Profiteering should be stopped at any cost.”
The commissioner said that action against dairy farmers and retailers would be taken across the board. More than 100 milkmen profiteers had been jailed during the ongoing operation after the recent hike.
“Troubling citizens and overcharging from them is not tolerable,” Siddiqui said.
It has been learnt that the dairy farmers have to buy health-hazardous milk-increasing injections at high prices, hence many of them have left its usage and many others are using it and covering their expenditures by inflicting high prices in the market. Dairy and Cattle Farmers Association President Shakir Umer had reservations over the ‘behaviour’ of the government.
He said they were being treated like animals. Teams were raiding at shops to load people on vans to jail them for selling milk.
