No milk supply in Maharashtra from today, farmers demand hike in procurement price

Pune: Workers of farmers' organisation Swabhimani Shetkari Sangathna (SSS) on Monday morning stopped vehicles near Pune and spilled milk on road thereby preventing it from being supplied to nearby cities.

The organisation is currently protesting to demand price hike for milk farmers.

In a similar incident, the party workers on Sunday vandalised a tanker ferrying milk from Wardha to Nagpur.

"Onus of Nagpur incident falls on state government and police. Protests were to begin at 12 am today but police started detaining workers from yesterday morning. They went to their houses and verbally abused women. Later on the party workers reacted. We want to protest peacefully," SSS leader R Shetti told ANI.

"Government says that milk would be brought from other states, especially Gujarat and Karnataka. We'll start a 'Satyagraha' and ensure that no milk is brought from outside. It's the tactic of the government to disrupt protest by doing this," he added.

Over the weekend, certain milk unions had reportedly promised SSS to raise milk prices by Rs 3 per litre. However, Shetti said that his party is firm on farmers receiving a subsidy of Rs 5 per litre.