Meet a man who earns Rs 15,000 per month only to deliver milk from Aarey to minister's house

This man has been hired by the state dairy department just to deliver free milk to the residence of Madhukar Deorao Chavan the cabinet Minister for Animal Husbandry Dairy Development and Fisheries Every morning come rain or shine Ganeshan a class IV state government employee transports five litres of milk from Aarey Worli Dairy to the ministerrsquos official bungalow opposite Mantralaya Every morning except for Sunday Ganeshan leaves his home in Goregaon around 5 am and makes his way to Aarey Worli Dairy He then picks up the consignment and takes BEST bus number 89 and drops off the milk at Chavanrsquos bungalow A5 For this work he is paid Rs 15000 Ganeshan a resident of Aarey Goregaon who is employed with the dairy for last few years was shown as an excess staff and was transferred to another department run by the state government Since Ganeshan could not read and write Marathi he was sent back to the dairy department said officialsattached to the dairy department Ganeshanrsquos only duty is tosupply milk to the minister 700 am After leaving his home in Goregaon at 5 am Ganeshan reaches Aarey Worli Dairy by 7 or 8 am He picks up the consignment of five litres of milku00a0PicsSameer Markande Bipin Kokate 730 am After picking up the milk Ganeshan catches bus number 89 from Worli and alights at the last stop LIC headquarters near Mantralaya 830 am After alighting the bus he makes the short trip to Madhukar Deorao Chavanrsquos official bungalow and drops off the milk every day except for Sunday 900 am After making the drop Ganeshan a class IV state government employee returns home This is the end of his duty When MiD DAY contacted Ganeshan over the phone he said ldquoI am at my native placerdquo and disconnected the call before answering any other question In the past too MiD DAY had reported how Chavan and Gulabrao Deokar then Minister of State for Agriculture Animal Husbandry Dairy Development Fisheries received a consignment each containing five litres of milk 15 bottles of lassi and 15 bottles of Energee free of cost December 7 2012 Following the report the practice had been stopped only to resume again with the minister not having to pay for his milk supply When MiD DAY made inquiries at Chavanrsquos bungalow we were informed that the minister was not in the city and that he was touring his constituency Tuljapur Osmanabad Attempts to contact him did not yield any result Later in the evening an office bearer Praveen Mendhapure categorically denied getting any free milk ldquoThe milk supply from Aarey was stopped long time ago We buy the milk as and when required from nearby stallsrdquo A dairy staff member said ldquoThe supply five litres out of a production of 30000 litres is a dip in the ocean However the manner in which it is supplied is unacceptable to many superiors But they remain tightlipped as they need to keep theirjobs saferdquo Shree Naik president of Maharashtra State Milk Distributor and Milk Transporters Association too confirmed that such free distribution of milk and other items to state and cabinet ministers has been going on for years He said ldquoApart from supplying free milk the dairy has also supplied the minister with servants and their salary is paid by the dairy No one has objected The worst is that despite having an internal vigilance team such irregularities take place This should stop and the concerned ministers should clear the paymentsrdquo MiD DAYrsquos report on December 7 in which we reported how ministers were being given free milk every day Officialspeak D D Kulkarni controller milk transport who is holding the additional charge of dairy development commissioner was evasive about the issue When confronted he passed the buck on to Nitin Badgujar Nitin Badgujar deputy commissioner and also incharge of Worli dairy said ldquoKulkarni is the right person to speak to as he incharge of all three dairiesrdquo Milking trouble Rs 18198 cr Losses incurred by Aarey in 200809u00a0 Rs 18957 cr Losses incurred by Aarey in 20092010 Rs 22594 cr Losses incurred by Aarey in 20102011 Rs 21383 cr Losses incurred by Aarey in 20112012