1) A gang producing and distributing poisonous chemical milk and khawa was caught by authorities in 2009. The gang was adding harmful chemicals to the milk and khawa. 2) The Arogya Sena organization launched protests demanding punishment for those involved and calling for medical exams of affected people. They faced resistance from authorities. 3) New instances of spurious milk and khawa production have been found, showing this is a large problem affecting all of Maharashtra. The government is accused of failing to properly address the issue and protect public health.

1. Date:-9/11/10
PRESS NOTE
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Award death penalty to the producers of spurious poisonous milk and ‘ khawa’ and imprison the
sellers of these for life.
The food and Drug Administration ( FDA) and Satara police caught a racket producing spurious and poisonous
chemical milk sometime around 4th
August 2009. The police launched prosecution against the ‘ technical
brain’ Prof Phunde, the chief of the distribution network Samir Mehta and 18 others involved in this case. The
gang was using harmful chemicals like potassium hydroxide, sodium lorel ethyl sulphate (SLES), a chemical
which is used for making shampoo. Sorbitol and palm oil were also being used to impart thickness and fat
content to the milk. In addition. Phunde was using bio diesel chemicals, but the exact formulae for these are not
known yet. The chemical admixtures so far identified are extremely harmful for human health. These could affect
enamel coating on the teeth, endothelial lining of the oesophagus and stomach, liver kidneys, heart, blood vessels
and nervous system. These chemicals would cause slow poisoning and hence the affected people may not even
notice their effects. To detect these effects can even become a challenge for the medical professionals. It is
therefore necessary to identify the households where this milk reached and government should conduct detailed
medical examination of the people who have been consuming this milk. It would not suffice to nab the culprits
who produce this milk ; it is of utmost importance that the distributors are also caught. This milk, produced in
mass, in lakhs of liters, can get distributed only through the variuos dairies. That is why it was essential to
identify the dairies running the distribution chain and to award exemplary punishment to the owners or directors
of such diaries. It is well known that dairies in Maharashrta are cooperative enterprises and cooperative sector is
controlled by political leaders.
Taking this situation into account, the Arogya Sena decided to pursue this serious matter and launched an
agitation against spurious milk. The principal landmarks of this agitation are as follows:
1) Arogya adalat on 13-9-09 Demands raised were CBI inquiry, establishment of independent fast track
court, the names of the 22 dairies involved be declared and exemplary punishment to all those found
guilty.
2) Demonstrations in front of Collector’s office, Pune on 18/10/09. Effigies of the culprits were burned and
a memorandum of the above demands was submitted.
3) Demonstration in front of FDA office, Pune on 1/10/09. A memorandum of the above demands was
submitted. After this, the joint commissioner, FDA sent a letter to the National chief Dr. Abhijit Vaidya
advising him that the list of names of dairies was with Dist supertendant of police, Satara. He also wrote a
letter to the Satara DSP requesting the Notification of the names of the diaries.
4) Demonstration in front of district headquarters, Satara DSP on 20/10/09. The DSP took the stand that
the names
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2. of dairies were not known to them. In spite of prior intimation about the agitation 17 Arogya Sena activists,
including the National chief Dr. Vaidya were arrested under section 37(1)(3) / 135. This was on the pretext that
the code of conduct was in force due to some elections. The activists were released on bail late at night.
5) The case was conducted in the of District court, Satar- 16/11/2009. District chief judicial magistrate Shri
Magare was the judge and Dr.Vaidya personally pleaded his case. He made a submission that he had resorted to
respectful breach of law in the interest of the people. He therefore pleaded guilty. The sections slapped by the
police prescribed a minimum jail term of 1 month and maximum of 1 year. In spite of this, the magistrate made
appreciative comments: ‘ the accused are all members of respetected strata of the society, and who else can take
up such a case in the interest of the people? ’ With these comments, he awarded them a token imprisonment of a
day till the rising of the court. He also passed strictures on the police for the delay in investigations in this case.
The police had detained confiscated articles like microphone, speaker etc of the Arogya Sena, for 3 months in
this case,
6) The scathing editorial, writer by Dr.Vaidya , about this case in Janagarjana , the web weekly of Arogya Sena
– 3/11/09
7) Press conference of Dr.Vaidya – In this all the demands were reiterated- 19/11/09.
8) National Chief Dr. Vaidya addresses a letter to Shri R.R.Patil, Hon. Home minister, Maharashtra 16/12/2009
9) In view of continued neglect of this serious issue by the government of Maharashtra in spite of potential
danger to people’s health, Arogya Sena decides to approach the court as suggested by labour leader Comrade
Bhalchandra Kerkar. Arogya Sena noted the government’s apathy with concern although some people were
playing with the lives of the people for monetary gains and some bigwigs in cooperative sector could possibly be
involved.
Organizations and their leaders coming together for this court case:
Arogya Sena( Dr.Abhijit Vaidya )
All India insurance pensioners ’ association( Comrade Bhalchandra Kerkar )
Pune municipal Kamgar Union ( Smt Mukta Manohar )
Insurance employees union, Pune( Shri V.T. Gharpure )
Indian Oil Officer’ association ( Shri Mangesh Kerkar )
The case was filed in Mumbai high court by advocate Sunil Prabhu in April 2010. The high court has posted this
case for first hearing in February 2011. Very unfortunately Arogya Sena has now to select a new advocate due
to sad demise of Adv Prabhu in the intervening period. We are constrained to conclude that the government has
turned a totally deaf ear towards this serious issue of spurious milk ; this is in spite of the prolonged agitation by
the Arogya Sena. Arogya Sena makes a public allegation that this has been deliberately done to protect some
bigwigs who are involved in this against society. Given this background, the announcement of Ajit dada Pawar
that those involved in this would not be spared and that they would be prosecuted under MOCCA has turned out
to be merely hollow words and almost farcical. Further, even before the conclusion of investigations in the first
case and while the accused are enjoying freedom while on bail Shri Krishna Prakash , DSP of Ahmednagar has
caught another racket of manufacturers of spurious milk. He also declared the names of the dairies involved in
this. After this, during the fortnight before the Diwali festival , thousands of kg of spurious “ Khawa” has been
confiscated in the districts of Pune, Dhule and Beed. It has been found that spurious khawa in quantities of
thousands of kg is daily pouring in Maharashra from Ahmedabad and Surat. The value of this business could
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3. run in lakhs of rupees. Investigations brought out that this khawa contained harmful colours and sometimes
powdered animal bones, in addition to the chemicals used in spurious milk. It is apparent that this racket covers
the whole of Maharashtra and Gujrat and probably similar gangs operate all over the country. The government’s
own public health laboratory has found that out of all the samples of milk and milk products coming for analysis,
16% are found to be adulterated. In spite of this, out of 17of the food labs 11 are not functioning. Thus even
routine testing of samples is not possible. How can one expect that the culprits are severely dealt with? The check
posts at the state boundaries have been found to be ineffective for stopping the illicit movement of khawa. Our
central minister for agriculture, Shri Sharad Pawar made an announcement just last week that the government
would not spare those found to be adulterating or making spurious milk and khawa. As a matter of fact, had Shri.
Sharad pawar paid serious attention to this issue right from the beginning , the people of Maharashtra would
not have had to eat sweets made from spurious khawa during this Diwali. Organisations like Shiv Sena and
MNS, who have been self appointed and vociferous guardians of the interests of the “ Marathi Manoos” , have
nothing to do with this matter concerning the well being and health of our own people. These organizations,
which excite the emotious of the people solely for their votes, need to understand what the real interests of the “
Marathi Manoos” are. Hence our contention is that the political parties, especially those in power, have either
failed to appreciate the gravity of this matter or are deliberately shielding the guilty .
On this occasion and with the above background, Arogya Sena is reiterating all demands made earlier. The
production of spurious milk and khawa should be considered as an indirect attempt of mass murder of the people
and therefore Arogya Sena demands that the guilty ought to be given death penalty. Arogya Sena also demands
that the distributors should be imprisoned for life. At the same time we demand that all the food and drug
laboratories in the state should be made functional immediately and further that they should be capable of
testing milk and khawa.
Maharashtra and the people would not have had to face this dangerous situation in the midst of the Diwali
festival, if the government had earlier paid serious attention to the demands of the Arogya Sena. It is rather
unfortunate that the political leaders or burocrates are not aware that this spurious milk or the sweets made from
the spurious khawa might have reached their own households.
We are thankful to the senior labour leader Comrade Bhalachandra Kerkar, who has provided inspiration and
support to the legal battle of Arogya Sena, for his attendance at this press conference. We are also thankful to the
leaders of the other organizations who have joined this battle.
Dr.Abhijit Vaidya (Mo. 9822090755)
National Chief ( Arogya Sena )
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