Irate farmers pour milk on road outside Goa Assembly complex

Several farmers Monday poured hundreds of litres of milk on the road near the Goa Assembly after a dairy cooperative rejected it.

Protesting farmers said they had brought the milk as a gift for legislators but had to pour it on the streets after police stopped them outside the Legislature complex.

"We did it with a heavy heart. We know how tough it is for a farmer to do this. But we had to protest," said Meghashyam Raut, one of the leaders of the protesters.

He said they were upset as the Gujarat-based Surat District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Limited (SUMUL) refused to take delivery of 4,500 litres of milk Monday morning after failing it for quality following a litmus paper test.

Raut said a proper laboratory test should have been conducted by SUMUL before rejecting the milk.

He said SUMUL, which was introduced in Goa during the time of former chief minister late Manohar Parrikar with a promise of better rates for milk, was now claiming non- cooperation from the state government and had also withheld bonuses.