With no takers, Triplicane vendors dump milk

More than 280 families in Triplicane are earning a living by selling fresh milk at doorsteps. “The corporation officials have instructed the public not to allow anyone inside. So, the residents have assumed that if they get fresh milk they would be infected. So, they have stopped buying from us and have started purchasing milk packets. There are no tea shops open, and none of the hotels are willing to buy too. So, we are dumping nearly 300 litres of milk every day,” said Balaji V, a milkman at Triplicane.

A milk vendor from Triplicane claimed that he used to supply 25 litres of milk to a house, but now he supplies only seven litres. This milkman, who earned Rs 6,000 per day, claims that earning even Rs 500 has become difficult for him and it has affected his livelihood.

“For a cow, we spend at least Rs 300 every day. It has become difficult to buy fodder as the shopkeepers are selling at more than the usual price. We have also sold a few cattle so that we can feed the remaining ones,” said Gopalakrishnan B, another milkman.

“If we don’t extract milk from the cattle, they would suffer from mastitis, and we have to spend more money to cure the cattle,” said a vendor from Villivakkam demanding that the government should procure milk from them.