Distribute grants to gaushalas at the earliest, says Rajasthan CM

JAIPUR: Chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday directed the animal husbandry department to distribute Rs 275-crore grant sanctioned recently to gaushalas.
Gehlot, who gave the direction at a review meeting of the animal husbandry department, said dairy and animal husbandry is the foundation of state’s economy and the major source of income for farmers.
The chief minister said dairy marketing federations had to strengthen its marketing and explore options to increase the income of dairy farmers.
He directed officials concerned to sanction more work under NREGA to engage labourers, farmers, landless labourers and dairy farmers. He also suggested to devise a concrete action plan to deal with the stray cattle menace. Stray cattle have not only become a problem to farmers, but is also leading to accidents. He said western Rajasthan districts are also facing shortage of fodder.
Minister for agriculture and animal husbandry Lalchand Kataria pointed out that fisheries and poultry industry is also facing crisis due to the lockdown. Dairy minister Pramod Jain Bhaya said there was huge gap in milk supply and demand after lockdown posing problem to dairy federations.
He said if the lockdown was further extended, the federation had to think of door-to-door delivery of milk. He said while there is excess supply of milk by about 15-20%, the demand was shrunk by 30- 35 %. Since all the dairies in the country are affected by the lockdown, the price of milk has also come down. Rajesh Sharma, secretary dairy, informed that department was trying to augment supply to army, Delhi Dairy to absorb the excess supply of milk during lockdown.