Maharashtra Farmers Spill Milk to Protest, Demand GST Waiver

Maharashtra milk supply hit as farmers block tankers and spill milk on the roads, demanding subsidy of Rs 5/litre.

Dairy farmers across Maharashtra protest, demanding a hike in milk subsidy

(Photo: PTI)

Video Editor: Purnendu Pritam

Dairy farmers, led by Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatan (SSS) and Maharashtra Kisan Sabha (MKS), are protesting across Maharashtra, demanding a subsidy of Rs 5 per litre of milk and waiver of goods and services tax (GST) on butter and milk powder.

Scores of milk tankers bound for major cities including Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Nashik and others were blocked by agitating farmers in different parts of the state.

At least one tanker was reportedly torched near Amravati en route the big cities, which are dependent on supplies from the rural areas.

Tankers laden with lakhs of litres of milk were waylaid and the milk spilled on the roads in Pune, Nashik, Kolhapur, Sangli, Beed, Palghar, Buldana, Aurangabad and Solapur.

In other places, activists performed the symbolic 'dudh-abhishek' with milk in major temples in Pandharpur, Pune, Beed, Nashik, Ahmednagar and others to lodge their protest even as the state government warned of strict action.

Supply of fresh milk hit in all big cities of the state, including Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Nashik.

Milk farmers across Maharashtra just have one demand. The money a farmer gets from selling milk is very less. The state government has fixed the procurement price of Rs 27 per litre, but farmers barely get Rs 17 per litre. We are demanding a direct subsidy of Rs 5 per litre to the farmers as provided in Karnataka and Kerala. The government is planning to procure milk from Gujarat or Karnataka. We will sit on Satyagraha if that happens.

Raju Shetty, MP, SSS chief

(With inputs from IANS)