Himmatnagar, July 15 (IANS) At least 74 people, including a former Congress MLA, have been booked in connection with the violence during the protest demanding a hike in milk procurement price in Gujarat’s Sabarkantha district.

Sabar Dairy Board Director and former Bayad MLA Jashubhai Patel was among those booked.

The agitation was sparked by discontent over the annual revision of milk prices based on fat content.

Protesters, reportedly incited through social media posts, converged on Sabar Dairy around 10 a.m., forcing their way through police barricades.

Witnesses say the crowd, armed with sticks, iron rods, and stones, chanted slogans and demanded transparency in profit distribution by the dairy’s leadership. What began as a demonstration escalated rapidly when the mob pelted stones, damaged public property, and blocked the national highway using stones and tree branches.

In response, police fired nearly 70 rounds of tear gas to disperse the crowd. At least one officer, Head Constable Jignesh Kumar Sureshbhai, was pulled into the mob and beaten.

According to the FIR filed at the Himmatnagar A-Division Police Station, Jashubhai Patel and Idar taluka’s Dharmendrasinh Jetawat allegedly used provocative messages on social media to mobilise protesters.

This comes despite Sabar Dairy disbursing retention payments to farmers on July 11, a move the accused reportedly criticised as arbitrary and insufficient.

The violent gathering caused significant damage to the dairy’s infrastructure, including the main gate, fencing, and government vehicles stationed at the site.

Authorities have invoked serious legal sections in the case and launched an investigation to trace all those involved. Identification efforts are ongoing, and arrests are expected in the coming days.

Established in 1964, Sabar Dairy, officially the Sabarkantha District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union, today ranks among Gujarat’s largest milk cooperatives.

It boasts a milk processing capacity of approximately 750,000 litres per day from procurement across more than 1,700 villages. As part of the Amul/GCMMF network, the union logged an impressive turnover of Rs 8,939 crore (around $1.1 billion) in the 2023–24 financial year, cementing its position in the billion‑dollar dairy club alongside other major Gujarat cooperatives.

–IANS

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