Leaders, people, allege politics in milk distribution to Tumakuru slums

As Tumkur Co-operative Milk Producers Union (Tumul) is distributing 95,000 litres of milk to slum dwellers each day, local politicians are vying to take the credit for it, allege people and certain leaders.

The government has taken up this initiative against the backdrop of the dip in demand for milk in the district. But milk distribution has become highly politicised here. People's representatives are competing with each other to claim the credit for the move.

Tumakuru has 109 slums 'declared' by the government and 77 undeclared ones. In Tumakuru city alone, there are 26 declared and 16 undeclared slums. There are 22,769 huts in these 109 slums.

Local leaders and corporators are claiming credit for Tumul's move of distributing milk 'on behalf' of the government in order to gain political mileage from it now and in the future. Many wannabes are also in their midst preparing for a career in politics in the future by claiming credit for it.

Accusations of partialitiy

In the city, one hears allegations that Mahanagara Palike members are being partial and distributing milk only to their followers. This allegation was made by a former deputy mayor.

In Gubbi, on Sunday, such alleged partiality shown by a town panchayat member had led to disgruntlement. She had supposedly taken a lot of milk with her but distributed less.

A JD(S) leader has also complained to the tahsildar that milk packet distribution is not being done in certain places at all.

He alleged that because the MLA is a Congress member and Tumul director is a BJP follower, the whole exercise of milk distribution has become politicised. He claimed that milk is being supplied only to areas where there are BJP followers.