Curfew sours sale of milk, curd for DKMUL

The two-day curfew imposed in Mangaluru crippled Dakshina Kannada Cooperative Milk Union Limited’s (DKMUL) sale of milk and curds in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts.

The sale of milk in Mangaluru dipped between 65,000 litres and 70,000 litres on a single day, DKMUL President Raviraj Hegde informed mediapersons on Monday.

The sale of 10,000 litres to 12,000 litres of curd was also affected during the period.

On a whole, the business of 1.50 lakh litres of milk and 25,000 litres of curd was affected during the two-day curfew, he added.

Normally, during bandh or curfew a special pass is issued to vehicles transporting milk to ensure supply of milk to the public. But this time in Mangaluru, milk distribution vehicles were prevented from distributing milk to public by the police.

Hegde said to save milk from getting spoiled, about one lakh litres were sent to Hassan and Dharwad dairy units for preparing milk powder.

“For manufacturing milk powder, we have to bear an additional cost of Rs 10 per litre of milk,” explained Hegde.

He said if the curfew was extended, then DKMUL would have stopped procuring milk from the dairy farmers. “Luckily city returned to normalcy after two days of curfew.”

Hegde said using the unsold milk, DKMUL had increased the production of ‘Trupti’ milk, which has a shelf life of 90 days and also flavoured milk.

Procurement affected

The procurement of 3,000 litres to 4,000 litres of milk from dairy farmers in Mangaluru and surrounding areas was also affected during the curfew, he added.

Those who were supplying milk to the milk booths and milk distribution vehicles were also beaten by the police during the period.

721 societies

DKMUL which has 721 milk producers’ cooperative societies in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts, procures around 4.50 lakh litres of milk per day from its members.

It markets around 3.50 lakh litres of milk every day. DKMUL converts around 30,000-40,000 litres of milk into milk powder every day. In addition to this, the union also markets around 56,000 kg of curd every day.