Aarey milk booths to sell veggies too

The minister wants to replicate the Mother Dairy model of Delhi for the new booths. The Mother Dairy company of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) has 5,000 outlets in Delhi and NCR,which sell milk and milk products. A number of these booths sell vegetables and the model has been successful.

Raut said a tie-up can be made with Maharashtra farmers to sell vegetables in these booths. “The idea is to give people option of buying vegetables while they are coming to purchase milk at these outlets. It would be of help to housewives and others,” he said adding that Mumbai market has a huge potential and there was a need to exploit it.

The department is also in the process of overhauling the booths in the city which are leased to local families. While the booths were set to encourage sale of Aarey milk and milk products,Raut said that other food products which may not come in the dairy category will also be given permission.

“The families have to survive and we need to look at the booths from business angle. We might give permission for snacks and other dry food items which can be distributed through Aarey,” he said.

To regulate the milk price and maintain its quality,the department has once again set up a task force with a representative of NDDB and Mother Dairy to explore the possibility of setting an autonomous regulatory board. For this also a tie up with Mother Dairy may be in the offing for Mumbai.

Mumbai’s demands for milk stands at 54 lakh litre daily of which only around 5 lakh litre is supplied through the government dairies. The rest is supplied by private milk suppliers.