Farmers protest in Maha, block milk tankers
Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana (SSS), a farmers’ outfit in Kolhapur, started statewide milk agitation on Monday by blocking milk tankers from entering Pune and Mumbai. As many as 65 milk tankers were denied entry in various parts of Maharashtra. The famers’ outfit is demanding ₹5 as subsidy for cow’s milk.
Activists of the outfit emptied milk tankers and threw milk packets on the roads in Hadapsar, Pandharpur, Kolhapur, Amravati, Pune and Baramati.
Raju Shetti, Lok Sabha MP and SSS chief spearheading the protest headed towards Gujarat border in the morning to ensure that milk coming from the neighbouring states does not reach Mumbai and Pune.
“We aren’t happy to waste milk but the government is protecting dairies and not considering farmers’ woes,” he said.
“We We have decided to protest out of compulsion after other ways to convince the government failed,” Shetti added.
Farmers have demanded a hike in milk purchase price by ₹5 per litre, to which the state government as well as dairies have objected.
CM DISAPPROVES Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis disapproved of the agitation and said the govern- ment was open for talks. “Our doors are always open for discussion... But the way the current protest is going on, is not right,” the chief minister said.
“Only 40 % of the milk producers are registered with the body representing them. The remaining 60% are not registered. So, direct transfer (of subsidy amount) may lead to a scam,” he said.
As many as 55 lakh milk pouches are sold in Mumbai every day, with Gujarat-based Amul having the highest market share of 30 % followed by Kolhapur-based Gokul, a dairy development department official had earlier said.
If Amul’s milk supply gets affected, the impact will be felt by consumers, a senior state government official said. Impact of the protest was also felt on the Amul dairy’s collection centres at Vasai and Virar towns in the Palghar district as the cooperative giant decided not to collect milk from farmers on Monday.
The agitation will intensify further if the state government fails to fulfil the demands, Shetti warned.
Ajit Nawale of the Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha, which works for farmers’ rights, said the agitation will intensify further if the state government failed to procure milk at higher prices or did not give special subsidy to milk farmers.
The districts of Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara and Pune in western Maharashtra -- the epicentre of the agitation -- are the major milk producers and suppliers to Mumbai and other major cities.
Besides, milk is also produced on a large scale in Ahmednagar, Nashik, Jalgaon, Nanded and Parbhani districts.
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