State warns Aarey tabela owners to clear ₹24-crore dues or lose licences
The state government in Mumbai has warned cattle farm owners in Aarey Colony that their licenses will be cancelled for not paying dues of ₹24 crore ($3.4 million). The farm owners have requested concession in interest and penalty amounts, claiming the government made errors in calculating the total amount. There are currently 505 license holders with over 16,000 animals in 32 cattle farms on 240 acres of land in Aarey. The government levies license fees and water charges to these farm owners.
Mumbai: The state government has warned the tabela (cattle farm) owners in Aarey Colony that their licences will be cancelled for not paying dues of ₹24 crore. The tabela owners have requested concession in interest as well as the penalty amount and said the government has made a few errors while calculating the total amount.
Currently, there are 505 licence holders with over 16,000 animals in 32 tabelas on 240 acres of land in Aarey. The state government levies licence fees and water charges to these stable owners. As per a report of the dairy development department, the total pending dues of licence fees and water charges stood at ₹24 crore in April.
An official from the dairy development department said that they issued a notice asking the tabela owners to submit the dues by July 30, otherwise face action, like licence cancellation. “After that, some stable owners have started to pay their dues, but many have still not cleared the dues, claiming that the government has issued the notice on the basis of wrong calculation,” added the official.
“The department has allowed defaulters to pay their dues in instalments. Accordingly, for dues up to ₹5 lakh, the payment can be made in three equal instalments. For dues up to ₹15 lakh, the payment can be made in six equal instalments and 12 equal monthly instalments for dues of more than ₹50 lakh was allowed. But still, they are not ready to clear the dues.” the official said.
Meanwhile, when contacted, Chandrakumar Singh of ‘Aarey Milk Producers Mandal’ claimed that the government made a mistake while calculating the amount and they will seek the help of ministers to resolve the issue.
“Of the ₹24-crore dues, around ₹13 crore is the amount of interest and ₹3 to ₹4 crore is the penalty levied by the state government. Besides, while charging licence fees, the state government has charged ₹225 per animal, which should be ₹140 per animal. Earlier, we approached the department to resolve the issue, but nothing has happened,” Singh said.
He added that there are more than 16,000 animals in these stables, which supply around 1,20,00 litres of milk daily to Mumbai, which is around 7% of the total milk requirement of the city. “If the government cancels our licence, it will affect our business and the milk supply in the city,” he said.
He added that many licence holders have started paying the dues out of fear that their licence will be cancelled.
