Cattle sale restriction: Supply to largest fresh milk market drops 50 per cent

“Ours is the largest fresh milk market in the country. The problem of procuring animals for milk started over a year ago, but the situation has deteriorated in the last few months. Earlier, on an average, over 1.5 lakh litres of milk used to be supplied to and from the market. Now it is half. The price used to be Rs 50-55 per litre. It has jumped to Rs 70-80 per litre,” Sinha said.

The traders, many of whom own goshalas, buy lactating cows and buffaloes from UP and bring them to West Bengal via Bihar and Jharkhand. The cows are placed in goshalas in areas surrounding Kolkata including the districts of Howrah, North and South 24 Parganas. After seven-eight months (four-five months for low quality animals), the animals stop giving milk and are sold to middlemen who sell it to villagers. The middlemen sell some animals to slaughter houses, and smuggle still others to Bangladesh. The cattle end up with the middlemen because goshalas find it difficult to make mating arrangements. Fresh animals are brought in every month to maintain milk production.

With the rise of cow vigilante groups, especially in UP, Bihar and Jharkhand, the number of animals entering West Bengal, even for milk, has declined. “For the past one year, we have been facing such problems. After the new notification, it has become very difficult We buy cattle two-three times from cattle markets in UP to maintain our stock of fresh animals. But the UP markets are shut. Some trucks carrying cattle are stopped by different organisations and police in UP, Jharkhand and Bihar,” said Sanwar Ali, owner of dairy farm Haji Zahoor Ahmed and Sons, which has been in the milk business since 1951.

“Now milk production is falling in our goshalas. Earlier, 3,000 litres per day used to come from my farm. Now, it is only 1,000 litres. I have labourers to pay. If I lose my income, how will I pay my labourers. The future looks bleak,” he said.