Farmers Movement Archive

Maharashtra: Kisan Sabha renews stir seeking better milk price

NASHIK: The Kisan Sabha has launched an agitation to stress on their demand for getting better prices for dairy farmers and is also meeting the elected-representatives asking them to look into the issue of enacting a law for the same. The move comes after dairy development minister Sunil Kedar accepted the demand for fair price for the milk producers, but failed to take steps in announcing the same. “We agitated for fair price and revenue sharing so that milk farmers can get good returns for their produce from the milk processing industries. The minister has assured to take steps, but there has been no announcement on the same so far,” Dr Ajit Navale, chief of Dudh Utpadak Shetkari Sangharsh Samiti and an office-bearer of the Kisan Sabha, said. Navale claimed that during the lockdown, the milk processing units lowered the buying price under the garb of lower turnover and reduced demand, but the retail prices of milk were never reduced. “The milk producers were looted by both the cooperative and the private associations,” he said. After the agitation in June, Kedar had assured a price of Rs 35 per litre price for milk producers along with revenue sharing as part of the Fair and Remunerative Pricing (FRP) by enacting a law. “But neither the law has been enacted, nor has there been any change in the price offered to the milk producers,” he said. “The state government is in session from Monday and that is the reason we have started the campaign of contacting every law maker — physically or via email — and urging them to take steps towards enacting a law for the farmers,” Navale said. “Many of our people are meeting the MLAs at local level and at the same time MLA Vinod Nikole is also meeting other MLAs to raise awareness among them about the issue,” he added.

The Times of India

2021-07-06

Nashik