Milk Supply in Mumbai, Pune, Other Parts of Maharashtra to be Hit as Farmers Protest Demanding Price Hike Begins

Mumbai, July 16: Milk supply to Mumbai, Pune and other parts of Maharashtra may get disrupted from today as farmers are going on strike demanding a hike of Rs 5 per litre in the procurement price of milk. As protests begin, the Maharashtra Police on Monday served a notice to All India Kisan Sabha's Dr Ajit Navle to not organise or participate in any protest supporting demands by Swabhimani Shetkari Sangathna, which has threatened to block milk supply within the state.

Farmers' bodies led by the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana headed by the Member of Parliament (MP) Raju Shetti has planned to stop all vehicles carrying milk for Pune, Mumbai, Nashik and other parts of Maharashtra. "Our dairy farmers will not supply milk to dairies. So milk will not be supplied to villages or cities. If anyone wants milk, they can come to the village and buy it directly from farmers," Shetty told a newspaper.

The All India Kisan Sabha has supported the protest. “We have decided to support the agitation, but initially our participation will mainly be in the form of giving a bouquet to dairy tankers and requesting them not to take milk to cities," Ajit Navale was quoted as saying. To muster support for the milk strike, Shetty visited almost all major milk producing centres across Maharashtra since. Notably, farmers will not pour thousands of litres of milk on roads, unlike past protests.

The Maharashtra government had declared a procurement price of Rs27/litre last year, but farmers say they are receiving Rs15-20/litre from dairies. "The difference in earnings has not been passed on to the farmer," Shetty said. As many as 55 lakh milk pouches are sold in Mumbai every day.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 16, 2018 09:41 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).