Unable to get a ‘fair’ price for the milk they produce and blaming the widespread sale of spurious milk and milk products for keeping prices low, farmers staged a protest in Amritsar on Monday and demanded strict action against those involved in the illegal business and those protecting them.As a mark of protest, the farmers spilled milk on the road to pressure the administration, arguing that the sale of spurious milk is keeping the prices of pure milk low, as a result of which dairy farms are on the verge of closure.Though culturally, wasting or disrespecting milk is frowned upon, as ‘dudh’ (milk) and ‘putt’ (son) are considered blessings of God in agrarian society, dairy farmers have expressed their anguish by spilling milk on roads twice in the last fortnight.Karamjit Singh, district president of the Bhartiya Kisan Union Ekta Sidhupur, said, “The administration is not doing anything to check the sale of spurious milk and milk products. It merely conducts routine sampling and thinks that it has done its job.”Singh said that while the prices of fodder, feed and even dry hay have gone up, adulterated and spurious milk is the reason the prices of milk produced by farmers have never increased. “The cost of dairy farming has gone up to such an extent that many farmers have shut down their farms,” said Ranjit Singh, another farmer.It is not the first protest of this kind in the district. Earlier, on May 18, farmers spilled milk outside the district administrative complex. Following the protest, the health department started inspecting dairy shops and collecting samples.The farmers argued that no noticeable change has been seen in the last fortnight, as the department’s action has been merely a routine exercise. They demanded that wholesale producers of spurious milk, khoya and paneer be identified and strict action be taken against them.