Basit Shah/ Shabir Ali
Throwing away their milk in drains, various milk producers from Central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district expressed strong resentment over the outside milk tankers being supplied in different parts of Kashmir valley.
Speaking to The Kashmiriyat, scores of local milk producers from Ganderbal’s Lar said that this unchecked supply of milk from outside Kashmir has left hundreds of them workless, since the last month.
Staging a protest, they alleged that the dealers are not buying milk from them, as huge containers of milk are coming to the valley every day which has occupied the markets fully. “The local consumers/ buyers we had over the years have stopped the consumption of original milk, they prefer packeted milk,” a protester said.
One of the protesters said that his family has been engaged in the work for the past several decades. “We went to concerned officials to intervene, but nothing has changed on the ground. We sold everything that we had, to feed our cows. But we fear now, we may lose our jobs too,” they said.
On one side, the Government seems to be pushing industrial development and asking international companies to come here (to Kashmir) and on the other, it is killing all local forms of trade, a protester told The Kashmiriyat.
A 28 years old protesting woman said that she has 20 cows, her whole family is fully dependent on them. ” If this continues, where we will go,” she asked.
The Kashmiriyat spoke to the Animal Husbandry officer Ganderbal who said that the residents had come to him a few days ago after which the department has constituted a committee to investigate the entire issue.
“I recommended the formation of a dairy cooperative society in every area which will look into the possible avenues for the milk producers in the respective areas and also be responsible for finding suitable markets to these producers,” he said.
He said that there is no local market in Ganderbal for the milk sellers, however, we will look for possible markets in Srinagar and elsewhere. “We provide vehicles to them to transport vehicles from one place to the other,” he said. If they form the committees, the department also aims to provide cold storage to the local milk producers.
Regarding the import of milk from outside Kashmir, he said that the committee has not submitted its report yet. “We will only know the facts once the committee submits its final report,” the officer said.