Seek payments by 10th of every month, quality testing machines at collection centres.
Under the banner of the Dairy Producers Association, dairy farmers staged a protest at the Duttnagar Milk Fed Chilling Plant in Rampur in support of their demands.
The protesters demanded that milk payments should be made by the 10th of every month and that machines for testing the quality of milk be provided at every society and collection centre. Farmer leaders called for efforts to curb alleged corruption within Milk Federation to protect farmers as well as the organisation.
Led by former MLA Rakesh Singha and state secretary of the Farmers’ Association, Omkar Shad, the dairy farmers from Rampur, Nankhari, Nirmand and Kumarsain gathered at the chilling plant. They threatened to launch a bigger movement if their five-point demand letter was not addressed promptly.
The association leaders stated that the Milk Fed was neither paying government-fixed prices nor making timely payments to the farmers. They said the provision of analysers and modern equipment to measure milk fat and SNF (Solid Not Fat) should be there at milk collection centres and societies, allowing the dairy farmers to immediately ascertain the quality of their milk. They also asked the Milk Fed to supply high-quality cattle feed to the dairy farmers through societies.
Omkar Shad said the dairy farmers were also seeking modern milk quality testing machines for more than 150 societies. These machines are necessary to ensure that government-fixed price of Rs 47.93 per litre is paid to the dairy farmers, he added.
Noting that the state government’s intent was to uplift the rural economy, Singha said unfortunately, government-fixed milk prices announced during the Assembly session were not being paid to the dairy farmers. The reason, according to Singha, is the lack of machines to test milk quality.
The milk plant in-charge stated that 272 societies were currently supplying milk, but 170 were provided with quality testing machines. Of these too, some have become faulty. He assured the protesters that new machines would be provided in phases and that the payments would be made in time in future.
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