PONDA: Protesting in front of the Goa Dairy premises, dairy farmers on Monday demanded that the cattle feed price hike be rolled back immediately.
It may be recalled that the Goa Dairy had hiked the cattle feed price by Rs 4 from January 16 onwards.
Following the protest, the Goa Dairy Administrator Arvind Khutkar held a meeting in the Cooperation Bhavan hall to discuss the issue with the farmers. After the discussion, Goa Dairy officials refused to roll back the cattle feed price immediate citing the dairy’s weak financial condition as the reason. However, the Goa Dairy officials asked the farmers to withdraw their strike, to which the farmers refused and continued the agitation demanding immediate rollback of cattle feed price.
Administrator Arvind Khutkar said the government had accorded approval to hike the cattle feed price and informed the farmers that he cannot suddenly revoke the decision. The rising cost of raw material led to hike in cattle feed price to meet the expenses.
“We have taken decision after consulting with all the officials of Goa Dairy including raw material purchase officials. Further the cattle feed plant is facing a deficit of Rs 4 crore,” he informed.
Later, he said put forward two proposals before the farmers, asking them to withdraw their strike.
According to first proposal, if government provides grants to the Goa Dairy with regards to price hike then he would transfer this benefit directly into their account. The second proposal was that the farmers should submit a memorandum to Goa Dairy through their milk supplying societies granting approval to reduce price stating that they are ready to face losses on account of low prices. He said, “We want to run Goa Dairy on no profit, no loss basis with cooperation of the farmers and they should support us in understanding the dairy’s situation.”
On behalf of the striking farmers, Anup Desai said, “Goa Dairy had unnecessarily burdened the farmers by hiking cattle feed price. Unnecessary excess staff recruitment in Goa Dairy and the inflated cattle feed price are affecting Goa Dairy. If cattle feed price is hiked then Goa Dairy should also increase the rates of milk procurement proportionately for farmers.”
He said farmers will continue their agitation till cattle feed price is rolled back. They have also threatened not to supply milk to the Goa Dairy if issue is not solved. The farmers appeared aggressive with some of them even grilling dairy officials on various issues. Deputy Collector, Mamlatdar and Ponda PI were also present along with policemen.
