The Apex court last Thursday urged the state governments to make necessary amendments to their laws to make production and marketing of adulterated milk and its product, an offense punishable with life imprisonment. The court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation or PIL.
Amit Sinha for BeyondHeadlines
The ruling came in the backdrop of samples of milk collected randomly by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India in 2011 revealed the large-scale sale of adulterated milk across the country.
At this stage it is relevant to know how safe the Patnaites are from these health hazards. It is shocking to find that most of the supply of adulterated milk and Paneer in Patna is being done from the Dairy Market near Patna Junction right under the nose of administration. The Food & Safety Department too knows it well but as yet a little being done to curb the menace. Ahead of every festive season the department randomly conducts raids, but the seriousness never felt.
Earlier in November 2012, the officials of food safety department conducted raids at this Milk market. They found obvious adulteration and started to destroy the confiscated milk and paneer at that very place. But the traders turned violent, attacked the officers and the entire area turned into battlefield for hours. Under the Food & Safety Act the department has full authority to destroy the contaminated items on the spot at its discretion.
After this incident, the milk mafias at Dairy Market at Patna Junction became more vigilant & rude. They do not allow the departmental officers or pressmen & photographers to the premises. Therefore, it has been a risky yet challenging experience taking snaps here.
Posing as a customer, as I entered the premises, vendors around called me to get their product claiming it ‘fresh’. The paneer sold here was available for a surprisingly low rate of just Rs. 100 per kg. And some of the vendors offering a heavy discount should I buy more than 10 kg.
When asked why the paneer is so cheap? A vendor in his 40’s replied ‘sir as we do sell here without proper infrastructure we have to keep the prices low. Many showroom owners buys this very paneer from us and sells at a handsome rate of 200-300 per kg’.
Surprisingly another vendor appeared from somewhere, put a piece of paneer at my palm and asked ‘Sir, do you need it for the marriage party’? Before I reacted, he offered me an unbelievable price of Rs 60 per kg. should I buy his whole bulk of approximately 20 kg. It was shocking. When the average price of milk is Rs. 40 per liter how is it possible to trade paneer at this rate. Obviously the product wasn’t paneer. It was a cheap look-alike. But it sparked my inquisitiveness further.
As I stepped forward inside this milk market the scene was horrific. Something like milk was being boiled in dozens of containers using a locally made burner amid heaps of garbage all around. Here the ‘milk’ was being processed to produce ‘Paneer’. It was disgusting. I could not help taking snaps quietly. Better to say it was the producing unit of ‘Paneer’.
More or less, this very ‘Paneer’ is being supplied to most of the eating joints, eateries and even big hotels in Patna. So next time you sit in a restaurant make sure you are not ordering a health hazard.
But all we need to remember are just two things. First, a kilogram of paneer needs 5 liters of milk to process. And the most trusted packed milk (Sudha) available in Patna is Rs 40/liter.
*The look alike of milk which is used in making this paneer will be discussed in the next story.
