Gujarat farmers protest over loan waiver, spill milk on road
Farmers in Gujarat seem set to intensify their agitation seeking loan waivers on the lines of neighbouring Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and distant Uttar Pradesh. As part of the first phase of their stir, they poured milk on the roads in various parts of the state rather than supply them to dairies.
“For now, we have announced milk ban in the entire state for two days. We will lead a march from Gandhi Ashram to Gandhinagar on Thursday. If the government does not heed to our demands, then on July 8, 9 and 10, we will organise a massive protest of thousands of farmers demanding waiver of our loans,” said Alpesh Thakore of the Kshatriya-Thakore Sena before he was detained by the local police.
“If government fails to accept our demands, the country will soon realize that farmers in Gujarat are capable of bringing about a shift in power,” he added.
Alpesh had warned well in advance that farmers will stop selling milk to the dairies and spill it on the streets instead. Several queues were seen at milk kiosks on late Tuesday night in anticipation of milk shortage in wake of call given by Thakor Sena. However, things were pretty normal on Wednesday.
“There is no shortage of milk with Amul in Gujarat. Not even a litre. I can confidently tell all our customers that you need to hoard milk as 36 lakh farmers from across the state continue to supply milk to us. Ahmedabad alone sees sale of 15 lakh litres,” Amul managing director R S Sodhi said.
Reports of dairy farmers pouring several litres of milk also came in from towns of Palanpur, Patan and Sabarkantha in North Gujarat. The police detained around 100 persons in this connection.
“Alpesh Thakore began agitation by seeking ban on sale of liquor and has now moved on to milk. If milk collection stops for two days, farmers lose Rs 120 crore. Gujarat dairies collect 1.45 lakh litres milk every day and we have done so even on Tuesday. Moreover, dairies already have 3-4 days of advance stocks so there will be no shortage, if milk supply stops by a day or two,” Shankar Chaudhary, chairman of Banas Dairy and Minister of State for health (independent charge) in Gujarat government, said.
Thakor Sena has also threatened launching agitation to stop supply of vegetables to urban areas if the state government does not heed to its demands for farmers.