Milk wholesalers defer strike for two days after Ghani’s intervention

After intervention by Sindh Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani, the milk wholesalers of Karachi put off their strike, which they had announced for Wednesday, for two days.

The milk wholesalers on Tuesday had announced that they would be going on strike from Wednesday onwards as the retailers were not willing to buy milk from them at higher rates after the milk farmers announced an increase in the milk price.

Haji Rafiq of the milk wholesalers’ association told The News on Wednesday that Syed Agha Rafiullah, a Pakistan Peoples Party MNA from Malir, played a key role in the postponement of the strike as he arranged a meeting of the wholesalers with Ghani.

“The local government minister has directed Karachi Commissioner Iftikhar Shallwani to hold a meeting with us, after which Shallwani has called all the stakeholders on Thursday [today] at his office,” Rafiq said, adding that the wholesalers had deferred their strike until the outcome of the meeting was decided.

“After the meeting, we will decide our plan of action,” he said. Meanwhile, a press statement from the Commissioner House also confirmed the today’s meeting of the commissioner with various associations involved in the milk trade.

The recent milk issue started on Saturday when all the three milk farmers’ associations of the city jointly increased the wholesale rate of milk from Rs85 to Rs95 per litre – a move that was rejected by the provincial government which warned the milk shops’ owners against increasing the retail price of milk.

As the retailers were not ready to buy milk at higher rates, the wholesalers decided that they would not be collecting milk from the farms from Wednesday onwards. The wholesalers also held a meeting on Monday with Additional Commissioner-I Ahmed Ali Qureshi but it did not produce desired results, after which they decided to go on strike.