Mumbai, July 19: The Raju Shetti-led Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghtana (SSS) has called a statewide strike of dairy farmers over the milk price hike from July 16 onwards. And to press their demands, the protestors have been seen emptying milk cans on the roads. Moreover, the agitators are also finding different ways to grab the attention of the government. In a recent mark of protest, the party workers bathed a few buffaloes instead of pouring milk on the streets. Earlier in the day, the agitators also distributed milk to children for free. The move seems to have come after several people criticised the SSS partymen and agitators for the wasting milk. Many suggested that they can distribute food and milk among the poor and the needy instead of wasting them.

The Maharashtra diary farmers are on strike from last four days. On the fourth consecutive day, on Thursday, various vehicles carrying milk were stalled. To fulfil Mumbai's milk requirements, the milk has been sourced from Gujarat. Besides this, a special train carrying milk containers from Ahmedabad to Mumbai has been running to bring 44,000 litres of milk to the city. Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) party workers in the wee hours of Thursday stopped a milk vehicle at Borivali coming from Gujarat, giving fodder to Marathi versus Gujarati conflict.

Here is the tweet from ANI about how the dairy farmers are washing the buffalos and distributing milk to children for free as a mark of their protest:

 

 

The purpose behind the strike is to get a direct subsidy of Rs 5 to the dairy farmers and GST waiver for butter and milk powder. Although the farmers have been holding protests at different places, the Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis has disapproved the statewide protest. In his statement at Nagpur, the monsoon assembly session ensured that the uninterrupted milk supply would be made to the city. And if required, more milk will be procured from Gujarat. Over the statement, Shetti has stated that if the demands are not fulfilled, then the strike will intensify further.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 19, 2018 06:44 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).