Amul, the biggest producer of packaged milk in the organised sector, has complained of disruption in the supply of milk and related products to parts of Calcutta and its surrounding areas over the past few days as transporters have refused to pick up the product because of irrational fears that the pouches may be contaminated by Covid-19.

The company, which supplies 10 lakh litres of milk in Calcutta and its adjoining areas, said the transporters had refused to lift at least 20 per cent of the production on Tuesday. Areas in Salt Lake and Rajarhat were the worst hit by the supply disruption.

“The unions who are managing the transporters said they would not be lifting the product during the lockdown. If this happens, there will be massive disruption,” said Rupinder Singh Sodhi, managing director of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (Amul).

In a tweet tagging chief minister Mamata Banerjee and the Prime Ministers’ Office, a consumer said on Tuesday morning: “No supply of Amul Milk today in the markets of Salt Lake and Lake Town. This is forcing people to step out during a lockdown and make it ineffective to battle Covid-19. Please help in restoring the supply of milk.”

Amul, which has a 65 per cent market share in the state, said it had apprised top officials at Nabanna of the crisis and had sought their help to smoothen things out. “The administration is talking to the transporters to resolve the matter,” Sodhi added.

According to the Amul MD, the transporters were wary of carrying milk pouches over the past few days. “We provided them with sanitisers, masks and also bought them health insurance even though they are not direct employees of Amul. But now they do not want to work for the next four days (the lockdown has since been extended to April 14 midnight),” he told The Telegraph on Tuesday evening.

South Bengal has four Amul milk-packing stations. They are located in Chanditala and Makalpur (Hooghly), Jairambati (Bankura) and Sarisha (South 24-Parganas).