KOLHAPUR: The farmers associated with Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana will block traffic at Kini toll booth along Pune-Bengaluru National Highway on Thursday morning.The farmers have been on an agitation since Monday seeking Rs 5 per litre grant from the state government to make up for the losses due to drop in prices.Farmers along with their cattle will be on the highway on Thursday morning. The decision was taken in a meeting between the major local leaders of the outfit at a clandestine location after member of parliament Raju Shetti directed them to block the highways.Since the last three days, the farmers from several places have stopped milk supply and hit the streets to block the milk tankers heading to Mumbai and Pune. Shetti himself is at the northern borders of the state blocking the milk supply from Gujarat with the help of local workers.A senior leader of the outfit said, "We have asked all the farmers from Sangli and Kolhapur district to observe chakka jam (road block) agitation at Kini toll booth on Thursday. We have arranged vehicles to carry their cows and buffaloes. We will milk the cows at the protest site and continue the sit-in till the government announces its decision."The leader claimed that the police have already detained some of their workers to stop them from participating in the protest. "However, if the men are detained, then the women farmers will lead the protest," said the leader.On Wednesday, tankers were held captive by the workers of the outfit at several places in Kolhapur and Sangli districts. Some of the tankers were moving forward in heavy police cover.As compared to Tuesday, the milk collection of the dairies day dipped further. On Tuesday, the collection was around 50%, which came down to 36% on Wednesday. Around three lakh litres of milk was supplied."At some places, such as Gaganbawada, we could not collect milk owing to flood-like situation. This is also one of the reason for the dip in the milk collection. On Thursday, cities may face shortage of milk," said an official associated with Gokul co-operative milk dairy.

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