Sudha dairy unit suspended due to water-logging

PATNA: The manufacturing unit of the Bihar State Milk Cooperative Federation Limited (

Comfed

) that manufactures and sells pasteurized Sudha milk will remain closed for at least a day due to waterlogging at the manufacturing plant at Phularisharif in Patna. The suspension of the unit may trigger milk scarcity in Patna on Tuesday.

Several parts of the state capital was water clogged for many hours due to the heavy lashes of rain. The premises of the Sudha dairy at Phulwarisharif was filled with more than 2 feet water that forced the administration to shut the unit till the water is pumped out. Patna district magistrate Sanjay Kumar Agarwal visited the plant to take stock of the situation. The DM said, “We cannot take chance till the premises is water logged as it higher the chances of electrocution. We are using additional pumps to drain out the water from the dairy premises and if it does not rain any further, we expect that the unit will be functional from tomorrow.”

The Muslims will observe Bakhri-Eid on Tuesday and due to the festival, the demand of milk is likely to shoot in Patna. The DM said, “On an average Patna consumes nearly 2 lakh litre of Sudha milk every day and due to Bakhri-Eid they demand may increase. As an alternative option and to cope up with the demand of milk, packaged milk will be brought from two milk packaging units – Hajipur and

Nalanda

. The raw materials will be supplied to the two milk packaging units from Sudha unit and they will prepare the milk at their respective units.”

DM conducted a meeting with the Comfed officials regarding how to prevent such waterlogging in future. The DM said, “There is a pond located adjoining to the Sudha dairy. Whenever the pond gets over flowed due to heavy rain, the water flows inside the dairy unit. We are planning to build a high wall between the dairy plant and pond to prevent the water flow.”