An estimated 150,000 liters of milk worth Rs 4,500,000 is transported to the capital daily from here. Dairy entrepreneurs said the milk was wasted Wednesday owing to the Maoist clamp-down.[break]
"They warned us not to collect and dispatch milk, and we accordingly notified the farmers," said an official of a cooperative group involved in dairy business. Following the Maoist diktat, most of the dairies in the district stopped collecting milk on Wednesday.
The chilling centre of Dairy Development Corporation (DDC) in Banepa remained shut on Wednesday as it could not collect milk from the farmers. The chilling centre in Panauti collected only a nominal amount of milk. Collection centers of dairy product companies like Anamol, Sitaram, Kalika and Himalayan also recorded nil.
Due to obstruction by the Maoists, the tankers from the capital could not reach the chilling centers in different villages of the district and the vehicles owned by DDC and the private dairy companies also returned from mid-way.
Dina Nath Sharma, the Kavre in-charge of UCPN (Maoist), said the transportation had to be stopped as it marred the effectiveness of the general strike.
"We had only allowed transporting milk but the vehicles were found to have been carrying people instead. So we were compelled to take this decision," he added. But the milk transporters denied the charge.
Deepak Prasad Paudel, treasurer of Dairy Producers´ Cooperative Association, said the Maoist move, ironically, was an injustice to the farmers even though the party had announced to let the milk vans operate.
Meanwhile, around 500 peasants staged a rally in Dhungkharka on Wednesday protesting the Maoist clamp-down.
They warned that they would go to Banepa to stage protests on Thursday if the Maoists did not lift the ban immediately.
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