• Full Story

NZ milk unwanted by Indian protesters

Email
Print

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:40p.m.

Protests in India organised by Hindu nationalist political party Shiv Sena against imports of New Zealand dairy products have turned ugly with party workers draining thousands of litres of milk at Pune, 100km south of Mumbai.

The attack on a local milk tanker - and on five other tankers earlier in the week - followed threats to burn a ship carrying imports of milk from New Zealand.

Protesting the National Dairy Development Board's (NDDB) decision to import 30,000 tonnes of milk powder and 15,000 tonne of ghee from New Zealand, the party members - known as "Shiv Sainiks" yesterday stopped a local milk tanker and drained the milk, NDTV reported.

On July 23, a farmer's organisation aligned to the Shiv Sena staged a similar protest in Satara district against the dairy imports.

Local farmers have claimed that imports from New Zealand will affect their business.

Farmers have asked government officials to scrap the imports and have threatened to set on fire a ship due to arrive in Mumbai on August 18 with the New Zealand dairy products.

A Shiv Sena official in Satara, Viraj Kharade, toldNDTV: "We will spill more milk, we will stone milk tankers and further intensify our agitation as we want the government to focus their attention on this issue."

NZPA

Become a fan of 3 News on Facebook and on Twitter.

Post a Comment

Before commenting, please take the time to read our moderation guide


(Won't be published)



Comments

30 Jul 2010 02:12p.m.

henk wrote:

I wonder if they pay an ETS tax on the imported milk , as thousands of miles of transport takes place .
Or are we the only suckers in the world who are getting screwed by our Govt.
We should not export our products , just to keep the planet clean.

30 Jul 2010 10:55a.m.

peter wrote:

Quite ironic when almost all of new indian industry (IT, call centres, cars, manufacturing) is based on successfully undercutting similar businesses in other countries (I don't mind this, in fact it is good, but lets not pretend its based on anything other than price) - those farmers need to wake up and smell free trade, because if everyone took the attitude that we won't allow anything that harms local business we will all be going back to the stone ages. Cant have it both ways, and India is a big winner in this game so I would not be throwing stones in the glass house if I were them

30 Jul 2010 09:52a.m.

katrina wrote:

You are so right VJ. What a waste of a wonderful resource especially in a country where people are starving.

30 Jul 2010 09:46a.m.

Dan wrote:

what a waste. I agree with VJ atleast they could have offered the milk to some orphanages.

30 Jul 2010 02:10a.m.

VJ wrote:

Wow....this is unbelieveable. On one side the opposition parties are fighting against price rise for the common man and when the government is finally doing something to rein in inflation by at least getting products which are getting costlier by the day, look at what the same people are doing here. A liter of good milk anywhere costs between 25-35 rs today. What is their problem if the excess milk hits the market and brings relief to the common man by reducing the price rise at least by a bit. Is it not the same people who will also be benefitted by this? No common sense. Instead of destroying the tankers, they should have ensured that this reaches some orphanages or should have been distributed free in slum areas instead of being sold. At least the people would have felt happy by doing so.