Aarey Dairy Machinery to Be Scrapped, Sparking Calls for Preservation as Art
The imminent sale of unused machinery from Aarey Dairy has prompted an outcry from those who remember its iconic history as one of Mumbai’s premier dairy institutions. Established decades ago to meet the city’s milk demand, the Aarey Dairy plant was a symbol of Mumbai’s state-run dairy industry, with its units in Goregaon, Kurla, and Worli supplying 11 lakh litres of milk daily in its prime.
However, with the state government now auctioning off the outdated equipment, including milk pasteurisation machines and the famous Energee production plant, the final vestiges of this once-thriving dairy may soon vanish. A number of former employees and experts, such as Roger C B Pereira, the man behind the name “Energee” in 1981, have expressed their desire for the government to preserve parts of this machinery, either as museum pieces or even as public art installations.
In the 1970s, some of Aarey’s equipment was imported from countries like the Netherlands and Switzerland, and the Kurla unit, known as Mother Dairy, was built with funds from UNICEF. However, as Mumbai rapidly modernised and market competition increased, the dairy began to decline. By 2011, it was supplying just 20,000 litres of milk per day—a stark contrast to its earlier years. Operations ceased altogether in 2014. For former workers like Shankar Sutar, a union leader, the decline of Aarey was orchestrated by vested interests that sought to dismantle the dairy to make way for more profitable real estate projects on its prime land. The Worli Dairy land, in particular, is valued at billions due to its location near the sea. Despite this, the sale of the machinery is raising concerns, as many iconic machines could simply be scrapped without any effort to preserve them. Dairy officials have confirmed that, according to the tender process, the machinery must be dismantled and sold as scrap, with no provision for preserving key items of historical value.
While the machinery cannot be put to use elsewhere, some pieces have historical and sentimental value. For example, Rahil Khan, manager at the Garib Nawaz Corporation working on dismantling the Kurla unit, confirmed that a few spare parts and an imported Swiss milk storage tank have been set aside, as requested by officials. He suggested that partial preservation of the dairy’s legacy could be an important step in honouring the city’s dairy history. Pereira, 85, is adamant that the Energee machine, a symbol of Aarey Dairy’s brand, should be preserved for future generations. He proposes the idea of a dairy museum at the original sites of the Aarey units in Goregaon, Kurla, and Worli. “Why scrap it all when the machinery has historical value?” he says. “It could serve as an iconic tribute to Mumbai’s industrial past.” The closure of Aarey Dairy is often attributed to a combination of poor governance, lack of funding, and a deliberate neglect of the facility. Many insiders believe that this decline was a calculated move to eventually make the land more attractive for real estate developers. Today, the Aarey land in Worli, Kurla, and Goregaon is worth billions, with real estate experts estimating that the prime Worli location could fetch up to ₹8,000 crore.
Despite the machinery being outdated, Pereira believes the brand itself—especially the Energee drink—could still be revived with modernisation efforts. He sees a potential market for Energee in Mumbai and beyond, leveraging its nostalgic value to attract loyal customers who still remember the brand fondly. The call to preserve Aarey Dairy’s legacy isn’t just about nostalgia—it’s a chance to respect and honour the city’s industrial history while finding creative solutions to integrate these relics into contemporary culture. From turning old machinery into art to establishing a museum dedicated to dairy production, there are countless ways to preserve the essence of Aarey Dairy without discarding its history completely. As the sale of Aarey’s machinery goes ahead, there is still hope that parts of its past will find a new life, not only as reminders of a forgotten era but also as a lasting tribute to a vital piece of Mumbai’s industrial heritage.
