TN govt hikes milk prices by Rs 10 per litre, opposition calls for protests

Chennai: Opposition parties in Tamil Nadu- DMK and DMDK - on Sunday protested against government’s move of hiking milk prices by Rs 10 per litre. Calling the hike in price as “unprecedented”, DMK and DMDK announced protests against the ruling AIADMK over the issue. [caption id=“attachment_1773087” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  DMK chief M Karunanidhi. PTI[/caption] DMK president M Karunanidhi described the hike as “anti-people” and also slammed the proposed revision in power tariff even as he accused the government of not coming out with any relief measures for riots affected by the downpour lashing the state for the past several days. DMK will stage protests in all district headquarters on 3 November condemning the ruling AIADMK’s “anti-people” policies and demand rollback of hike in milk price, and oppose the proposed power tariff revision, he said in a statement. The district secretaries will lead the protests, he added. DMDK, the main opposition in Tamil Nadu Assembly, also criticized the hike in milk price, though party founder Vijayakant insisted he was not against increasing the procurement price for milk farmers. He said the milk prices have doubled since the AIADMK government assumed office in May 2011 from Rs 17.75 to Rs 34 and sought an immediate rollback of the same. He said he will lead a protest here on 28 October. Announcing the hike on Saturday, Chief Minister O Panneerselvam had said that the increase was effected following demands from milk producers to increase the procurement price. MDMK leader Vaiko also flayed the move and sought for an immediate rollback of the hike. AISMK, an ally of AIADMK, however, welcomed the government’s decision to increase the procurement price but said the hike on the customers should be reduced. PTI