Maharashtra’s Social Justice and Special Assistance Department will begin supplying 200 ml tetra packs of flavoured milk to more than 65,000 students in government hostels and residential schools from September 15, replacing the temporary local arrangements currently used to provide milk.
The decision was set out in a government resolution issued by the department on August 31, according to a report by Loksatta. The programme covers 46,663 students in 449 government hostels and 18,600 students in 92 government residential schools, taking the total number of beneficiaries to more than 65,000.
The milk will be provided as part of the students’ nutritional intake. The state-level administrative procurement committee has fixed the price at Rs 26.40 for each 200 ml flavoured milk tetra pack. An e-tendering process was conducted for the supply.
Under the procurement arrangement, Parag Milk Foods will supply hostels and residential schools in the Mumbai, Nashik, Pune and Latur divisions. The Warana cooperative will supply institutions in the Nagpur, Amravati and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar divisions.
The procurement terms and the approved rates will remain in force for three years. The government resolution states that no increase in the approved rate will be granted during this period. It also provides for cancellation of the order if shortcomings are found in the quality of the milk or in the delivery service.
The change has raised questions about the move from regular or locally arranged milk supply to packaged flavoured milk, although the report does not detail specific objections or cite responses from students, hostel administrators, nutrition experts or parent groups. The decision therefore places greater importance on how quality, distribution and consumption will be monitored across hundreds of institutions.
The department has directed the Social Welfare Commissioner to begin the supply of flavoured milk from September 15. The temporary milk arrangements made at the local level were scheduled to end on September 14. This creates a direct transition from local procurement to a centralised, multi-region supply system.
The implementation will require coordination between the department, the Social Welfare Commissioner’s office, institutional administrators and the two selected suppliers. The government resolution does not, in the supplied report, specify the monitoring mechanism for nutritional quality, delivery frequency, storage conditions or student feedback. These details will determine how the new arrangement works in practice across government hostels and residential schools.
