Maharashtra Dairy Farmers Protest Enters Day 3; Indian Railways Chipped in to Transport Milk From Gujarat to Mumbai

The efforts of the Western Railways to attach milk tankers to the Ahmedabad-Mumbai Central passenger train will solve the shortage in milk supply faced by Maharashtra.

Mumbai, July 18: The Western Railways (WR) officially declared that special arrangements had been made to supply milk to Mumbai with the directives from Railways Minister Piyush Goyal. In a statement, WR said, “The decision is taken to counter the short supply due to the ongoing agitation called by farmers’ organisation.” The milk protest in Maharashtra entered Day 3 on Wednesday.

The efforts of the Western Railways to attach milk tankers to the Ahmedabad-Mumbai Central passenger train will solve the shortage in milk supply faced by Maharashtra. With the intimation from the Gujarat Dairy Development Corporation Limited, the passenger train has made the provision of milk tankers possible. Two containers will be attached to the passenger train for every trip it takes. In total 12 milk tankers will be attached to the aforementioned train. The Rail Milk Tanker containing 44,000 litres of milk will be attached from Anand district in Gujarat to Mumbai Central.

Meanwhile, members of Swabhimani Shetkari Saghtana (SSS) demanded that the Maharashtra government offer a subsidy of Rs 5 per litre of milk to dairy farmers.

#WATCH: Workers of Swabhimani Shetkari Sangathna set ablaze a truck of Rajhans Milk Shop in Washim’s Malegaon. Driver later escaped the fire without any injuries. The organisation is demanding price hike for milk farmers. #Maharashtra pic.twitter.com/LOSyim9oLj

— ANI (@ANI) July 16, 2018

The workers of SSS stopped vehicles, set fire to a truck of Rajhans Milk Shop in Malegaon. They also spilled milk on the road, so as to prevent the supply of milk to neighbouring cities. Moreover, the workers demanded the BJP Government to increase the milk price. Apart from demanding subsidy, the farmers’ groups, led by Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana and Maharashtra Kisan Sabha, also demanded a GST waiver on butter and milk powder.

Milk tankers in many places like Pune, Nashik, Ahmednagar, Buldhana, and Jalgaon were blocked by the agitators. Despite the ‘milk blockade’ set up the farmers’ organisation on Monday, the supply of milk to cities like Mumbai and Pune has not been disrupted.