Calcutta, Jan. 24: Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s government will buy milk from other states to make up for the shortfall in city supply.

“The government has agreed in principle to the animal resources department’s proposal to import milk from other states,” said state milk commissioner Sundar Majumdar. The states shortlisted are Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

“Our target is to buy about 18,000 litres of milk twice a week,” Majumdar added.

The procurement will boost the sales of the dairies across the state, said an official of Mother Dairy. “The dairies have been incurring huge losses, as milk procurement has come down recently, though the demand has steadily been on the rise.”

Around 30,000 litres of milk are procured every day from milk societies, through the various milk unions. After processing and packaging, the dairies sell around 43,000-45,000 litres of milk daily.

The milk commissioner attributed the fall in procurement to the societies’ decision to sell milk to private parties at a higher price.

Sources in the government added that dairies are not being able to procure the required milk because of the sudden hike in the price of powder milk in the international market.

“The societies and unions are selling milk to private parties, who are converting it into powder milk,” said a senior officer in the department.