NDDB to support Punjab's dairy farmers in enhancing income
Darpan News Desk IANS, 21 Apr, 2022 10:29 AM
New Delhi/Anand, April 21 (IANS) The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) on Thursday assured support to Punjab government's endeavour in setting up 12 more milk plants in the state at an estimated outlay of about Rs 900 crore in order to bail out dairy farmers.
There already are 11 milk plants in Punjab, covering 6,000 villages, and the new ones would taking the total numbersto 23 and would cover a total of 12,000 villages. This would help in procuring additional 10 lakh litres of milk per day.
"This endeavour will not just supplement the farmers' income but also lead to another White Revolution in Punjab," said NDDB Chairman Meenesh Shah after meeting Punjab's Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development & Fisheries, Kuldip Singh Dhaliwal Minister at Anand.
The Punjab government would establish Total Mixed Ration (TMR) plant at Amritsar on the lines of two existing plants successfully operational in Ganganagar and Kolhapur, at an estimated outlay of Rs 80 crore, so as to overcome the problem of pollution and to provide cheaper feed to the dairy farmers, officials said.
"NDDB would provide all necessary assistance. This would also help solve the problem of burning crop residues."
Shah said that NDDB will work with the state government and arrange the required financial and technical assistance.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Friday condemned the Congress government in Punjab for allegedly discriminating against teachers and forcing them to come to the streets, and asked state Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla not to behave in an 'arrogant' and 'dictatorial' manner and resolve the grievances of government school teachers immediately.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Badal on Thursday demanded a high court monitored probe into the manner in which the Congress government in Punjab was playing with the people's lives by creating an artificial shortage of vaccines by selling vaccine doses at a hefty profit to private hospitals.
The electronic conversation took place as US President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that India will receive Covid vaccines directly from the US stockpile, the White House said.
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General M.M. Naravane, reached Kashmir on Wednesday on a two-day visit to review the prevailing security situation in the Union Territory (UT), the army said in a statement.
"There have been several unfounded media reports that have peddled misinformation among the masses regarding this exercise of national importance," a ministry statement said, adding that the total number of Covid vaccine doses administered in the country so far stand at 21,85,46,667.
The Congress said that it was "appropriate for our initial statement to note that the intrusion by Israeli forces into the Holy Al Aqsa mosque during Ramzan prayers had ruptured the delicate peace in the region".
