Protest in Maharashtra intensifies

Milk farmers’ protest in Maharashtra escalated on the second day on Tuesday with protesters led by Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana leader and member of Parliament Raju Shetti blocking the entry of dozens of tankers loaded with milk. These tankers had come all the way from Gujarat, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to distribute milk in Maharashtra.

The protesting farmers and their leaders claim that milk collection by the chilling centres and bulk dealers had declined to 10 per cent. While farmers have denied selling milk at ~16-17 a litre in some regions, a number of farmers have been forced to sell their milk at this price under heavily guarded police cover.

Buffalo milk, contributing to 30 per cent of state supplies, however, has not been impacted much.

Started from mid-night of Sunday, protests escalated on Tuesday following support from farmers leaders from all across the state. The protesting farmers have been demanding ~5 a litre subsidy to be deposited directly into their account, similar to the practice in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The Gujarat government has been providing a lot of subsidy to the state’s largest milk co-operative the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), the producer of Amul brand dairy producer.

“The government is trying to disperse the crowd using force. No government representative has ever approached us for talks. Our demand is very simple – pay a subsidy of ~5 a litre to milk farmers to prevent a financial distress. Instead of meeting farmers’ demand, the government is using force to restore milk supply. This will only escalate protests as consumers may not get milk in major cities of the state from Wednesday,” said Yogesh Pande, spokesperson, Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana.

It is estimated that total cow milk collection in Maharashtra is around 10 million litres per day.

Of the 5.5 million cow milk pouches sold daily across Maharashtra, Amul contributes the highest market share of 30 per cent followed by Kolhapur–based Gokul.

RS Sodhi, managing director, GCMMF, however, claims that there was smooth milk supply to Maharashtra on Tuesday. “We are not aware of any return of our tankers as of now. Till today, supply of milk tankers was smooth. We don’t know about Wednesday,” said Sodhi.

Meanwhile, Shetti has threatened the government that he will commence “satyagraha” if the demand of the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana is not fulfilled.