Daijiworld Media Network - Hassan (SP)

Hassan, Aug 28: It is gathered that nine persons who were involved with mixing milk produced with the help of chemicals to the milk obtained through cattle since the last five years have been arrested by the police. At the same time, three employees of Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF), Hassan, stand suspended for their alleged involvement with this activity.

Hassan KMF officials, who had earlier been claiming that no such thing ever happened, have now found that the allegations of artificial milk being mixed with normal milk which appeared in a section of the press are in fact true.

Reports say that main accused in the case, Srinivas, used to get water by a tanker, produce artificial milk in a shed located by the side of his house, and then supply the same to the milk refrigeration unit at Arasikere. He knew that officials would develop suspicion if milk in large quantities is supplied from a single society. To escape their attention, fake accounts were created in nearby societies, and milk was supplied in these names. A few officials of Arasikere refrigeration unit and Hassan Milk Union are learnt to have connived in this irregularity. In addition to minting money through artificial milk, these people also gained heavily in the form of milk subsidy given by the government. This milk, it is suspected, would have created multifarious health problems for the KMF customers.

It is learnt that an average of 4,000 litres of fake milk was sent through Kurubarahalli, Machenahalli, Belawadi, Kurubarabudihal, Narasipura and Bandur milk producers cooperative societies by these people.

President of Hassan Milk Union, and minister, H D Revanna, got angry as the details of this wrongdoing came to light. In addition to suspending three officials, he has formed an investigation team with technical officials of the department and officials of the department of cooperation. Irregularity in account maintenance is also being looked after. A detailed probe would be necessary to find out whether this coterie also worked in other districts of the state.

Food expert, K C Raghu, said that the accused might have misused skimmed milk powder being supplied to high schools and anganwadis for making milk. He noted that converting this powder into milk and again transforming it into powder poses danger to health. He said that there have been cases in which urea fertilizer is added to show higher protein level in milk, as otherwise oil and a certain chemical needs to be added to skimmed milk powder if milk is to be derived from it. He said that using urea and other chemicals can damage kidneys and other organs of the body.