Thaindian News

Shimla, May 20 (IANS) Tourists and residents in Shimla might have to forgo milk in their tea for two days. Thousands of litres of pasteurized packaged milk will go waste with suppliers deciding not to supply the product as they want a hike in commission from milk companies.

“We are demanding a hike in commission in the sale per pack of 500 ml from 25 paise to Re.1,” Milk Suppliers Association president Puran Chand told IANS.

This picturesque tourist town daily requires 50,000 litres of milk and mainly gets the supply from Punjab’s milk cooperative Milkfed. The cooperative supplies milk and dairy products like butter, ghee, paneer and curd under the brand name Verka.

Puran Chand said no milk and dairy products were supplied to any shop or hotel or commercial establishment in the town Friday.

“We met the Shimla Deputy Commissioner Wednesday and apprised him about the demand for a hike in the commission of suppliers. Since we didn’t get any positive signal from him, we decided to stop the supply for two days,” he said.

Another milk supplier said Milkfed has been supplying milk in the town since 1984 and since then it has not increased the commission on the sale of each pack.

Sources in the milk trade said Milkfed is daily supplying 21,500 litres of milk. The other prominent companies are Haryana milk cooperative Vita, Reliance and Punjab-based Milk Time and Super.

Shimla, fondly known as the queen of hills, supports more than 200,000 people. According to tourism industry representatives, now every weekend Shimla gets 40,000 to 50,000 tourists on an average.