Kolhapur Dairy Farmers Hold Massive March Against Govt's Cooperative Appointments
Kolhapur, Maharashtra: Congress MLA Satej Patil on Monday led a massive protest march against Maharashtra government’s ordinance appointing four expert directors with voting rights to the Gokul Co-operative Milk Federation after its board election deadlock.
Thousands of milk producing farmers hit the street in Kolhapur against the ruling BJP government. Patil-backed panel won 13 out of 25 seats against the ruling BJP-led Mahayuti alliance in the recent elections to the Kolhapur District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union.
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The protesters opposes Maharashtra government’s ordinance allowing the appointment of nominated directors (with voting rights) to large cooperative societies with a turnover over Rs 500 crore.
The farmers, who supply 20 lakh litres of milk daily, saw the move as overriding their elected representatives. However, the government insists that the nominations resolve a quorum issue under the Cooperative Societies Act. Fresh chairman election is scheduled on November 10 following a Bombay High Court order.
