Venting their ire at the State Government and the Omfed in particular, milk farmers on Saturday distributed milk free and spilled large quantities of it on the streets protesting what they called the Government’s ‘anti-milk farmers’ policy.
The farmers under the banner of the Odisha Dugdha Utpadak Sangram Samiti have been demanding a minimum support price (MSP) of Rs30 per litre milk, introduction of milk in midday meals in schools and Anganwadi Centres, free milk for pregnant woman and a special identity card for the milk farmers.
A large number of the Samiti activists held a demonstration at lower PMG Square in front of the Assembly protesting the decreased procurement of milk by the Omfed. As part of their innovative protests, milk producers distributed milk free of cost to people.
“We are being constantly harassed by the dubious ways of the Omfed. Neither we are getting the minimum support price nor getting support from the Omfed in any manner. Whatever little milk is being procured by the Omfed is not being procured in a proper manner, causing a lot of problems for us,” said an agitating farmer.
Earlier, milk farmers had resorted to agitation by spilling hundreds of litres of milk on roads as mark of their protests in Puri and Bargarh to highlight their plights.