Dairy farmers protest for release of dues in Haryana's Jind

JIND: Seeking immediate release of payments worth Rs 130 crore, the agitating dairy farmers on Monday blocked the gates of Vita milk plant here. The farmers claimed that they had not been paid for the last 70 days.
Several dairy farmers sat in protest in front of the Vita plant located near Patiala Chowk on the Hansi road and when the officials concerned didn't reach the spot, the farmers locked the gates, which affected the entry and exit of vehicles carrying milk products for several hours.
The protesters blamed the Haryana government for not releasing the pending dues. The dairy farmers said they had met chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala, and power minister Ranjit Singh Chautala but they only made promises and did nothing to release their pending payments.
Sushil Kumar, president of the dairy farmers association, said there were 700 societies and nearly 70,000 farmers were associated with these and supplied milk from villages to Vita plant on a daily basis.
There is a cycle of 10 days for disbursement of payments to dairy farmers, but Vita plant officials have not cleared dues for the last 70 days, which has led to an outstanding balance of Rs 130 crore. N S Dhania, CEO of Vita plant at Jind, said: "We have cleared the pending milk payment of Rs 33 crore till March and rest will be done in the next 10 days." Sources said Vita plant supplied milk powder to anganwadis and schools for midday meals and payment for that had to be cleared by the state government. Since the government has not paid in time, it led to a delay in release of payments to dairy farmers, they said.