Why are booth-holders under DMS allowed to continue despite losses?
29 Jan, 2014The reply to an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has revealed that the Delhi Milk Scheme (DMS) of the central government has accumulated losses worth several crores of rupees since 2007.
The reply to the application shows that the booth-holders under the scheme owe huge amount of money to the DMS. The data of monthly booth sales till March, 2012 as provided in the reply shows that the total sales of all the booth-holders comes out to be around Rs. 82 lakh per month but they owe more than Rs. 23 crores to the DMS. The RTI reply shows that despite huge outstanding amount against them, the booths continue to operate and the applicant claimed that there is no sign of recovery of the outstanding and that no steps have been taken to abandon the loss-making booths.
Contending that DMS is a waste of public money in the light of introduction of Mother Dairy project, the applicant Subhash Chandra Agrawal claimed that dairy giants like Amul and Sudha Dairy have requested the government to hand over the DMS to them. The Union Ministry of Agriculture has reportedly contended that it is adopting a much professional approach regarding the scheme in order to enhance the efficacy of the scheme in all fields i.e. marketing, transportation and operations and has also indicate towards modernization of the scheme.