Milk crisis: Government's mismanagement, burden on Karachi consumers

KARACHI: A milk crisis has emerged in the country's biggest city as the majority of retailers have closed their shops.

Forced to sell milk at the government-approved price of Rs85 per litre, the retailers have complained that they are unable to break even after purchasing milk at Rs95 per litre.

“Wholesalers are selling [milk] at a price nine rupees above what the government has set,” a retailer told Geo News. “We have stopped purchasing [from the wholesalers] since yesterday.”

According to an estimate, the metropolis’ daily milk demand of 4.5 million litres is faced with a deficit supply of at least a million litres.

 

The commodity’s ‘resourceful’ supply chain is rumoured to have rendered helpless the commissioner’s office — the decisive authority on commodity prices.

Caught between the power games of the milk mafia, citizens continue to suffer from the supply crisis.

“I have visited eight to ten shops since morning but milk is not available anywhere,” a citizen lamented.

Another citizen told Geo News that wholesalers, in some areas of the city, have increased prices up to Rs100 per litre.

“Authorities are clueless [about the increasing prices], but we are worried about our families,” said the citizen.