Dairy farmers of Kanchanpur took the streets early this morning, blocked traffic and filled the road with milk. This did so in protest against the alleged inability of the government to purchase their produce. Under the leadership of the Shuklaphanta Developed Cow Buffalo Producers Committee, the farmers blocked traffic on the East-West Highway for around 30 minutes at Suda and poured milk into the road. The milk we had in stock after the Nepal Dairy Development Cooperation failed to buy it despite the agreement was poured into the road, said chairperson of the Committee Raghubir Lekhak. As per the agreement the DDC is to purchase 12,000 litre of milk from farmers in a month but it purchased only 2,900 litres in the month of Jetha and only 500 litres as of Asar 12, he said. After pouring 2,000 litres of milk into the streets in a symbolic protest, the farmers distributed the remaining milk in stock for free to the locals. Meanwhile, chief of the DDC office in Attariya Hem Chandra Poudel said the demand for milk has come down in the capital following the April 25 earthquake and hence the Corporation has not been able to buy as much as it should have. "We received orders from the centre to cut down the collection of milk and hence we have not been able to adhere to the agreement reached with the dairy farmers",.
