Milk scarcity stares at Patnaites on Bakrid day

Patna: Milk scarcity is likely to stare at Patnaites on Tuesday, the day Muslim brethren will celebrate Bakrid. For, the Bihar State Milk Cooperative Federation Limited (Comfed)'s Phulwarisharif plant in Patna had to suspend its operations on Monday due to waterlogging on its premises following the nightlong downpour till Monday morning.
The dairy plant processes and sells pasteurized Sudha milk besides other milk items.The Comfed's Phulwari plant campus was inundated with 2-ft deep water. After a visit to the plant, Patna DM Sanjay Kumar Agarwal said, "We cannot take chances... The waterlogging may lead to electrical short circuits."
The administration has initiated measures on a war footing to drain the rainwater out of the plant. "If it does not rain further, we expect the unit to be functional from Tuesday," the DM said.
According to the DM, Patna on an average consumes nearly two lakh litres of Sudha milk every day. The demand is likely to be up due to Bakrid on Tuesday. "We plan to bring milk from packaging units at Hajipur and Nalanda for sale in Patna on Tuesday. For the purpose, raw material will be supplied to the two milk-packaging units from the Sudha unit," the DM said.
The DM also held a meeting with Comfed officials to discuss measures for preventing such a recurrence. "There is a pond located near the plant. Whenever it overflows due to heavy rain, the spillover enters the dairy unit," the DM explained to newsmen, adding a high wall was being planned to be built between the dairy plant and the pond.