Milk Adulteration

My grandparents lived in Ashok nagar and one of maternal uncle lived in Gandhi nagar in Hyderabad. I have fond memories of waking up in the early hours to see bottles of milk left at our doorsteps while it was still misty. There used to be a 'milk booth' where some people could line up and purchase milk bottles but most residents had milk delivered to their home. There was always a danger that the cats would topple the bottles, rip the cap off and drink the milk. This happened sometimes.The empty bottles would be left at the same spot to be collected the next morning. This was in 1970s. These days milk is no longer distributed through bottles but in plastic satchels (more plastic trash and pollution).

It so happened that in these two areas, police have unearthed a milk scandal. The milk distributors started siphoning off the milk from these satchels using syringes and inject the replaced milk with equivalent amount of water. The police found the milk-to-water ratio in these adulterated satchels to be 3:1. The collected milk was again mixed with water in the same ratio and injected back into used satchels which they would buy from tea vendors at cost of 50 paisa each. They even had a machine to reseal the satchels filled with this milk. Apparently they were making Rs 2,500 each day with this scam. Health officials believe that this explains why people living in these two areas have been falling sick due to water-borne diseases for some time. Apparently the water being mixed is not clean.

For those of us reading about these incidents, we are made to be wary of everything in daily life in India. This puts lot of stress into our lives. you have to check everything you purchase or services you get, whether purchasing petrol or water or groceries, one has to check and recheck if there is anything foul happening. The same thing when getting services, whether it is Internet Service Provider or your car mechanic or an auto driver with a tampered meter. When you are constantly on your toes and on look out, you become very cautious and stop believing people. This puts lots of stress in your daily life.