Farmers today took out protest marches in Amreli and Chhota Udepur districts of Gujarat against demonetisation and ban on swapping of defunct notes at the district Co-operative banks.
Farmers at Wadia Kukavav in Amreli district walked shirtless to express their anger, while at Chhota Udepur, they dumped cans of milk outside the collector's office and threatened to stop supply of milk to Co-operative dairies.
Protesters in Amreli, led by Congressmen and other political leaders, submitted a memorandum to the mamlatdar, demanding that RBI lift the ban on exchange or depositing of defunct notes at district central Co-operative banks.
"Farmers can't exchange notes despite having accounts in Co-operative banks. They have no alternative accounts which is causing hardship as they desperately need money for daily use," said Congress MLA from Amreli, Paresh Dhanani.
Farmers in tribal-dominated Chhota Udepur district said the money due to them from milk societies had not been released. They dumped milk outside the collector's office saying the milk was now worth nothing until the Co-operative banks released the money.
They demanded that Rs 14 crore lying in the accounts of milk societies at Baroda Central Co-operative Bank be released immediately so they can buy cattle feed and pay off loans taken for cattle and tractors, among other things.
"Baroda District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union (Baroda Dairy) buys milk from small farmers through milk societies which disburse cash to farmers once a week," said Congress leader Sangramsinh Rathwa, a director of Union.
"The bank now says the money will only be transferred to individual farmer's account. There are 45,000 members of around 450 milk societies in Chhota Udepur district... Most of them do not have accounts in co-operative bank," Rathwa said.
In the memorandum, farmers demanded immediate release of money for the milk they had sold to Baroda Dairy, and proper arrangement in the Co-operative bank such as enough employees and account forms to open new accounts.
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