Maharashtra floods: Milk gets rationed, many forced to drink rainwater in Kolhapur

KOLHAPUR: Citizens, already reeling under power, water and fuel cuts, also faced a shortage of milk and other essentials on Wednesday.
Milk supply to the city has taken a hit. Though Gokul, the co-operative dairy, managed to provide milk pouches, there were restrictions. Each family was allowed to buy only half-a-litre of milk. This was to ensure that everyone received milk.

“There was panic purchasing.Since we had limited stock, we decided not to give more than half-a-litre of milk to our regular customers,” said Rakesh Chougale, a milk distributor from Kasba Bawda. “Though we have been assured by the dairies that the supply will be regular, given the rain situation, we don’t think we will get adequate milk supply,” he added.
Gokul dairy officials said 5 lakh litres of milk is in the tankers — stranded on the national highway. The tankers could not reach Pune and Mumbai were the milk was to be supplied.
An official of the dairy said that the city requires 1.5 lakh litres of milk every day and the dairy has adequate stocks in the chilling centres. “However, the distribution could not take place. We managed to send the milk pouches through other smaller routes, which we will continue to use for the next few days. We have requested the district administration to make way for our vehicles to reach various parts of the city,” said the official requesting anonymity. He said the dairy has stocks of 10 lakh litres of milk in the chilling centres and in the processing factory.
Milk collection by the dairies has been stopped. Apart from Gokul, other dairies decided to stop distribution as there was.
Meanwhile, the supply of vegetables could not take place for the third consecutive day. The mandi wore a deserted look. The officials of the Agriculture Produce Market Committee said the trucks carrying onions and potatoes have been stranded on the highway.
Rainwater quenches thirst
So severe is the water shortage across the city, that citizens are resorting to collecting rainwater for drinking purposes. People can be seen roaming the streets with empty cans and trying to collect rainwater.
The city has not received water for the past two days. The private water tanker suppliers too have run out of drinking water. The Kalamba Filter House, which collects water from the Kalamba lake, was the only source for drinking water. However, the filter house is of low capacity and the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC) too does not have an adequate number of tankers. There is, therefore, a need for air-dropping of water pouches.
The water supply department had promised to deploy at least 25 water tankers — eight of their own and the rest hired from private suppliers. However, it could manage to get only six tankers from private suppliers. “As of now, we have 14 water tankers. Since there is only one source for pure water, we are facing limitations. Also, some areas are disconnected, where even the water tankers cannot reach. We have managed to resume the supply of some parts of old city areas by diverting water from the Kalamba filter house,” said Suresh Kulkarni, the chief hydraulic engineer of KMC.