Process to fix milk price in final phase, SHC told

The Commissioner Office has been negotiating with all the stakeholders and is in the final phase to finalise the milk price in Karachi, Karachi additional commissioner told the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday.

During the hearing of a petition against the sale of milk at increased prices and addition of chemicals in milk, the additional commissioner submitted that various meetings had taken place in the Commissioner Office to fix a rational and justified price for milk.

He submitted that a committee had also been constituted to assess and analyse the cost of production of milk. He stated that another meeting of the stakeholders was fixed on November 24 (Wednesday) for finalising the milk price in the local limits of Karachi.

The additional commissioner informed the high court that the district administration had imposed fines on 2,310 profiteers and collected Rs11,918,500. The petitioner, Abdul Sattar Hakim, had maintained that the high court had earlier fixed the milk price at Rs90 per litre as per a government notification but milk sellers in different parts of the city had been selling milk at Rs130 per litre and above in violation of the court order. The petitioner had said that complaints had been filed before the Sindh Food Authority and Commissioner Office against the sale of milk at higher rates but no action was taken and instead, the Commissioner Office had given a free hand to the milk sellers association to sell milk at higher rates.

A counsel for the petitioner submitted that the additional commissioner had assured the high court that the milk price would be fixed after consultation with the stakeholders but milk was still being sold at Rs130 per litre in the city. The SHC directed the additional commissioner to submit a compliance report with regard to fixing milk price on the next hearing.