Dairy farmers launch stir, seek higher milk procurement prices

The agitators along with members of the Raju Shetti- led Swambhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, a farmers' organisation, stopped milk tankers and emptied them on the Pune-Bengaluru highway passing through Sangli and Kolhapur districts. Talking to PTI, Shetti said they are demanding an increase in milk procurement prices by Rs 5 per litre and the benefit to be directly deposited into the accounts of milk producers.

Dairy farmers launched an agitation in Maharashtra's Sangli, Kolhapur and Ahmednagar districts on Tuesday over their various demands, including a hike in milk procurement prices. The agitators along with members of the Raju Shetti- led Swambhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, a farmers' organisation, stopped milk tankers and emptied them on the Pune-Bengaluru highway passing through Sangli and Kolhapur districts.

Talking to PTI, Shetti said they are demanding an increase in milk procurement prices by Rs 5 per litre and the benefit to be directly deposited into the accounts of milk producers. "We are also demanding an export subsidy of Rs 30 for milk producers and cancellation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) levied on milk products," he said.

Shetti also demanded cancellation of the Centre's decision to import 10,000 tonnes of milk powder. He said milk business in the state has been affected "because of the policies of the central government".

"Since early morning, members of the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana have been agitating in the region (Sangli and Kolhapur) by stopping the milk tankers and spilling milk on roads," he added. In the morning, Shetti performed 'milk abhishek' at a Lord Shiva temple at Udgaon in Kolhapur district.

Some agitators poured milk on cows at Barshi tehsil in Solapur district. In Ahmednagar, dairy farmers and members of various organisations under the aegis of 'Dudh Utpadak-Shetkari Sangharsh Samiti' staged a protest, and said farmers should get a minimum purchase price of Rs 30 per litre.

The samiti's convener, Dr Ajit Navale, said the central government should immediately withdraw its decision to import milk powder. "We demand that the farmers be given a purchase price of Rs 30 per litre and a subsidy of Rs 10 per litre should be paid directly into their accounts by the state government," Navale said.

He said farmers were performing "dudh abhishek" of stones (milk anointing) on Tuesday, but if the state government does not take cognisance of their agitation, they will pour milk outside the residences of leaders of the ruling coalition. Earlier, BJP Pune unit president Jagdish Mulik also said they will to launch a statewide agitation from August 1, if the demands of milk producers are not met.

On Monday, BJP leaders in Pune submitted a memorandum of their demands to Collector Naval Kishore Ram..

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)