CM's step saves Rs 9 crore per day for dairy farmers of state

KOLKATA: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's decision to allow sweet shops to remain open for four hours a day during COVID-19 lockdown has helped in checking loss of Rs 9 crore per day for dairy farmers as around 30 to 35 lakh litres milk is not getting wasted. The total production of milk in the state is 140 lakh

litres per day. Sweet shops are one of the two major consumers of the same. Around 50 lakh litres of milk needs to be supplied to sweet shops across the state every day. The second largest consumer of milk in the state is tea stalls and other eat- eries where around 20 to 25 lakh litres of milk has to be sup-plied every day.

But with the lockdown, sweet shops, tea-stalls and all other eateries had to pull their shutters down. In such a situ- ation, dairy farmers were left with no other option apart from incurring heavy losses. After getting information in this regard, the Chief Minister has taken the decision to allow sweet shops to remain open

from 12 noon to 4 pm. Now, with the sweet shops remaining open for at least four hours per day, the dairy farmers are saving loss of Rs 9 crore per day. Besides allowing the sweet shops to remain open for four hours per day, the state gov- ernment has also ensured that people maintain safe distance while visiting the shops to avoid spreading of COVID-19. "Though the consumption by sweet shops at present is not as usual, it amounts to around 30 to 35 lakh litres of milk every day. As a result, dairy farm- ers do not have to incur such a huge loss anymore," said a senior state government official, adding that the domestic

consumption has gone up.

Major dairies in the state consume around 12 lakh litres of milk every day that they process to prepare various milk based items. Milk production in the state has gone up by a huge margin in the past few years, with a series of steps taken by the Mamata Banerjee government in this connection.