Islamabad : A delegation of Islamabad Fresh Milk Vendors Association (IFMA) led by its President Muzaffar Ahmed Hashmi visited Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry and discussed the key issues of their business with Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan President, Ms. Fatma Azim Senior Vice President and Abdul Rehman Khan Vice President ICCI. Shahid Imran Gondal, Secretary General and other office bearers of the Association were in the delegation.
Addressing the delegation, Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry shared many innovative ideas with the delegation of IFMA to boost the fresh milk business. He said that IFMA should mobilize its members to properly organize and corporatize their business with central collection and central distribution mechanism. He said that there was no alternative to fresh milk for good health and IFMA should develop new business models like model shops and model outlets with certification from Food Authority to compete effectively with MNCs selling packed milk. He said that ICT Administration should fix prices of fresh milk in consultation with IFMA and rationalization of fresh milk price should be linked with inflation rate so save their business from adverse impact. He assured that ICCI would cooperate with IFMA in its endeavours to resolve the key issues of its members.
Ms. Fatma Azim Senior Vice President and Abdul Rehman Khan Vice President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that milk has a direct impact on the health of people and stressed that fresh milk suppliers should take extra care to supply pure and healthy milk while those who mix water in fresh milk should not be given any protection to discourage such malpractices.
Speaking at the occasion, Muzaffar Ahmed Hashmi President and Shahid Imran Gondal Secretary General, Islamabad Fresh Milk Vendors Association highlighted various issues being faced by their members. They said that a Gawala Colony was badly needed in Islamabad to promote the fresh milk business and urged that CDA should allocate space for it at a proper location. They said that the ICT Administration has not revised the rate list of fresh milk for the last two years for the last two years due to which their business was suffering. They said that the ICT Administration had fixed fresh milk price of Rs.110/Kg two years ago while now it was showing the price of fresh milk as Rs.100/Kg in its mobile app despite the fact that inflation has increased manifold. They said that MNCs selling packed milk were using unethical and exploitative marketing campaigns against fresh milk suppliers, which was affecting their business. They emphasized that ICCI should support IFMA in resolving the major issues of its members.Aslam Khokhar, Khalid Chaudhry, Musharraf Janjua and others also spoke at the occasion and stressed upon the need of resolving the key issues of fresh milk suppliers.