Aavin’s crackdown on fake monthly milk cards spells trouble for customers

Aavin’s crackdown on fake monthly milk cards spells trouble for customers

To weed out fake monthly cards from the system, Aavin has introduced new rules for those purchasing full cream milk (FCM) or the orange milk packets. This month, consumers can only renew their cards after submitting documents such as family cards or house rent agreements.

In addition, cardholders themselves must visit the zonal offices to renew them. The quantity of FCM packets supplied to card holders is being restricted to one litre per family card. This move has been causing a lot of anguish amongst customers for the past two days.

“The zonal offices are all located on the first floor, do not have elevators and are not elderly-friendly. In many places, the depots, which were the points where milk is unloaded in the mornings and where people renewed their monthly milk cards, have been closed,” a consumer said.

“The depot near the Sri Parthasarathy temple in Triplicane has been closed, and we have been asked to renew cards at Lloyds Colony. I buy orange milk packets during festivals or if I am having guests over, but someone told me that Aavin had stopped supplying orange milk packets,” said Indira Lakshmanan, a home-maker.

The depots have been closed since Aavin only pays ₹100 per day for the person manning one, and they must also manage the leaky packets. “If a person gets two leaky packets per day, he will have to bear the cost, and he will get next to nothing for the day. At several zonal offices, consumers are being told that even blue (toned milk – TM) and green (standardised milk - SM) cards cannot be renewed,” a milk delivery agent said.

City-wide, many cardholders usually pay the advance to delivery agents who in turn get them renewed. However, bulk renewals are not being permitted by staff at the zonal offices, a delivery agent said. Zonal offices also do not seem to be accepting cash payments. “I don’t mind paying an additional charge for the renewal since I cannot travel 9 km to my zonal office,” said Raman, a resident of Thoraipakkam, who added that many cardholders were senior citizens like him.

Meanwhile, Minister for Dairy Development T. Mano Thangaraj said genuine cardholders would not have any trouble in renewing. “In several cases, we have found that milk delivery agents are buying FCM at ₹46/litre through cards and selling them for ₹60/litre, thus they make a handsome profit, taking both the organisation and the consumers for a ride,” he said.