TIRUCHY: Milk Producers Association belonging to Aavin Milk Cooperative Society, along with the Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam, staged a protest in front of the Aavin office in Tiruchy on Monday (August 24) demanding a hike in the milk procurement price and decided to stop distributing milk to the Aavin firm.
The members belonging to the Aavin Milk Cooperative Society who converged in front of the Cooperative Society Aiylapettai near Koppu in Tiruchy demanded that the production expenses for milk have been increasing day by day and the procurement price should be revised annually, matching the production cost.
They referred to the private milk firms providing Rs 10 to 12 more than the Aavin price, and so the milk producers from across the state have started to approach the private players and this has reduced the milk procurement in Aavin from 34 lakh litres per day to 31 lakh litres, and this would decline in the coming days, the protesting members said.
They also stated that there are around 13 lakh milk producers across the state; among them, more than 10 lakh have joined the statewide protest. In Tiruchy, there are 230 milk-producing societies, and 2 lakh litres of milk have been distributed to Aavin each day.
“If the government fails to revise the procurement price based on the production cost, all the members would stop supplying milk to Aavin, which would result in a public crisis”, said, Ayilai Siva Sooriyan, State Executive Member of Tamilaga Vivasayigal Sangam who led the protest.