State govt may review decision on Aarey booths

The state government may review its decision to allot the city’s Aarey milk stalls to a private company if it finds that this has caused losses to the exchequer.

The state government may review its decision to allot the city’s Aarey milk stalls to a private company if it finds that this has caused losses to the exchequer.

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Chief Minister, Ashok Chavan, said this in the Assembly on Monday. The state had taken this decision in 2008.

“If we find that leasing these 1,811 stalls has caused us a loss of revenue, we will reconsider the decision to allot these stalls,’’ Chavan said.

Opposition legislators, Pravin Darekar and Eknath Khadse, said the stalls were being leased for a rent of Rs 7 a day. The Opposition also alleged that the state had mismanaged the Aarey Milk Dairy and its finances.

Khadse, Leader of Opposition, alleged the state was planning to sell the dairy land. He said all the five tenders the state received for this deal belonged to one owner. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena legislator, Darekar, said the dairy’s milk production and supply had dropped from the potential 12 lakh litres a day to 1.6 lakh. He alleged that the state wanted to take these booths away from the Marathi manoos.

Minister for Dairy Development, Nitin Raut, said the tender was granted to a company, Sheetal Arch, in 2008 after the bidding process. “In the age of Café Coffee day, the department was looking at modernisation of Aarey stalls, but there is no attempt to favour a particular company,” said Raut. “The department will earn Rs 2.13 crore from this deal.’’

Raut said leasing out booths was part of the department’s efforts to modernise the dairy. He said the state had a commitment towards dairy farmers. Aarey had decided to increase the price paid to dairy farmers for cow’s milk by Rs 2 and buffalo’s milk by Rs 4.50 in April.