Milk adulteration no longer viable in Bengaluru due to high cost of water
Bonnet Bots Untrue News Service
Increasing prices of water delivered by water tankers is leading to a shortage of milk in Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore) as the adulterated milk supply is dropping significantly. This means that the load of meeting the supply is falling disproportionately on the non-adulterated milk suppliers, causing a shortage. Prices of wholesale milk, on the other hand, are dropping. All this means that milk goes without adulteration. “It is business as usual for retailers, but a blow on the stomach of us adulterators”, stated Dugdhajal Mishrak, a local adulterator from the Whitefield area. There are no remaining options in the city for getting cheap mixing-water, leading to this new problem.
“Once, the milk started burning when we tried boiling it, and we at once knew it had water from Bellandur lake” stated Shalini, a housewife from Marathahalli in Bengaluru
Mishrak continued, “We paid 50 thousand rupees for a Kaveri river water connection, and this isn’t even a bribe, but the official cost for a connection. But many times during the year, we get water only twice a week, and its quality is not dependable. Earlier we used to mix water from lakes, but now they can easily identify it by smell. One customer even told us that ‘This milk is adulterated with water from Varthur lake… I can tell by the smell’. Yes, you can totally identify it.”
“In the Bellandur area, the milk smells different. But sometimes even we can’t tell where the water is from” he stated. “Once, the milk started burning when we tried boiling it, and we at once knew it had water from Bellandur lake” stated Shalini, a housewife from Marathahalli in Bengaluru. For those who don’t live in Bengaluru, the Bellandur lake is notorious for catching fire, due to effluents released into it. “So using lake water is no longer an option, leading us to use the expensive tanker water, which comes from the borewell” concluded Mishrak. Tanker water is very expensive, even on borewell road, which is lined with more borewells than preschools, yet the water is unaffordable. Yes, there are more borewells on borewell road than preschools, but that is a matter to discuss another day. However, the problem remains that the milk can be easily identified as adulterated.
At the time of going to press, the adulterators were planning to demand government compensation for loss of livelihood. Though some see it as a harmful business, such businesses sometimes enjoy government protection. The Bidi business (local filterless cigarette) is an example that encouraged them to plan such a claim.
Image credit: Engin Akyurt from Pexels.com
