Bhubaneswar, May 14: After Puri and Bargarh, hundreds of milk producers today spilled and distributed milk in the city to mark their protest against Odisha State Co-operative Milk Producers' Federation Limited (Omfed) for non-procurement of their produce.

The producers today spilled huge quantities of milk on the streets at Lower PMG Square and also distributed free milk to the people as a mark of protest against the state government's "anti-milk producers' policy".

The farmers under the banner of Odisha Dugdha Utpadaka Sangram Samiti have demanded Rs 30 per litre for their milk from Omfed. They have also demanded introduction of milk in the midday meal scheme in schools and anganwadi centres.

"We are not getting even the basic support from Omfed for our produce. Instead, they have been continuously exploiting us," said an agitating milk producer, Mamata Jena.

The protesters have also demanded provision of free milk for pregnant women. They asked for issuing separate identity cards for the members of the milk producing communities. "We need to have a different identity. We are the ones who take care of the milk produce," said Jena.

Another agitator, Jhagdu Yadav, said the Omfed officials had, in many times in the past, refused to procure their milk tagging it of low quality. "If the officials consider our milk being of low quality, we are helpless. We need to take care of our cattle by feeding them quality fodder. How will we survive if we are given such low rates for our produce? How will we feed our cattle," he asked.

In April, milk producers in Puri had started the unique way of agitation by spilling milk on the streets. The farmers had then spilled thousand of litres of milk on the streets in front the Puri district collector's office. The farmers had the similar demands of increasing the price and introducing milk in the midday meal scheme.

On May 13, the milk producers of Bargarh district had protested in a similar way.#They had poured nearly 26,000 litres of milk, which approximately cost over Rs 6 lakh. They had also blocked an Omfed tanker and spilled the milk from the tank. The producers were agitating as Omfed refused to procure their produce.