Milk supply affected for second day

Kolhapur, May 27 (UNI) Supply of milk was affected for the second day today in Maharashtra due to agitation spearheaded by the Swabhimani Shetkari Sangathana (SSS), which is demanding better price for the farmers.

The SSS, led by MLA Raju Shetty, had launched a two-day agitation since yesterday, disrupting the milk collection.

The SSS continued its agitation despite Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh assuring on Friday that, a decision on hiking the milk rates would be taken within a month.

The SSS has demanded that farmers be paid at the rate of Rs 18 per litre for milk that contains six per cent of cream.

During the two days of its agitation, the SSS had spilled thousands of litres of milk, collected by dairies, on the roads.

Milk was also distributed among the needy.

Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur districts are the major milk-producing centres in the state, with Kolhapur alone contributing over ten lakh litres of milk per day through major dairies like Kolhapur Zilla Sahakari Dudh Utpadak Sangh (KZSDUS) that distributes the ''Gokul'' brand, Warna Dairy, Mahalaxmi Dairy, Mayor Dairy, and others.

KZSDUS did not collect any milk today as a precautionary measure and to avoid any untoward incidents, while majority of the milk-supplying farmers also stayed away from supplying milk to the dairies.

Mr Shetty, while talking to reporters today, claimed that the two-day agitation was a total success and the SSS would announce its future action plan soon.

UNI