Samoon calls for self-sufficiency in livestock, milk production

Srinagar : Principal Secretary, Animal Sheep Husbandry and Fisheries Departments, Dr Asgar Samoon has urged the officers to employ latest technology for increasing the cross-bred population of animals and wean away the State from dependency on imports.
Chairing the 29th meeting of State Implementing Agency of Livestock Development Board at the Civil Secretariat here, Dr Samoon called for expeditious utilization of funds available under various plans and state and centrally sponsored schemes in order to strengthen the infrastructure of the department.
The meeting reviewed the decisions taken by the board in its 28th meeting and the progress made for implementing those decisions. While clearing the budgetary proposals for 2018-2019, the Board called for constituting an empowered committee to review the SIA bylaws to meet the requirements of the newly launched schemes, both by the state and central government.
Dr Samoon directed the officers to prepare a proposal for expediting the transfer of assets like semen stations, bull mother farms, semen banks and depots from the Directorate of Animal Husbandry and Dairy Cooperatives to Livestock Development Boards.
The meeting was informed that the final tender document for procuring Liquid Nitrogen plants has been submitted to the Animal Husbandry department and it will be published on e-tendering portal soon.
It was informed that the Project Sanctioning Committee of the Government of India has approved Rs 14.42 crores for Jammu and Kashmir under Rashtriya Gokul Mission (RGM) of which Rs 1.75 crore has been released and GoI should be approached for the release of the rest of the funds.
The proposals for procurement of Bio Freezer Tank at FSP Ranbirbagh and the establishment of Bull Mother farm at Ranbirbagh Ganderbal were also cleared at the meeting.
Samoon directed the officials to use the human resource available with the Animal Husbandry department judiciously and deploy the staff at semen stations as per the GoI norms and MSP guidelines. He also called for exploring new technologies used across the world to address the problems faced by dairy farmers in Jammu and Kashmir due to higher ratio of birth of male calf.
The Board also cleared the proposal for including the State share for centrally sponsored RGM scheme in budget estimates in order to procure HGM bulls for semen stations. Samoon also directed the officials to take up the issue of construction of new office complex cum training centre at Shalteng. It was also decided that the compound walling will be undertaken soon to avoid encroachment of land at Shalteng.
The meeting was also attended by Additional Secretary, Animal Husbandry, Tilak Raj, Director Animal Husbandry Kashmir M Y Chaproo, who is also CEO of LDB Kashmir, Director Animal Husbandry, Jammu, Victor Kaul, CEO LDB Jammu, PR Bharti and other officers of the department.