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 Congress is witnessing internal bickering on the issue of security breach of the Prime Minister and Congress MP from Punjab Manish Tewari has termed the incidence as most unfortunate and said the matter should be probed by a sitting High Court Judge.
Addressing a gathering in Tanda in Hoshiarpur district after laying the foundation stone of development work, the Chief Minister said there was no threat to the life of the Prime Minister but he cancelled his programme on Wednesday because of the thin presence of people at the BJP's rally.
High drama was witnessed on Thursday after 125 of 179 international passengers, who arrived at Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport Rajasansi, near here, from Italy, in an Air India flight tested positive on arrival. The Covid passengers were asked to quarantine in local hospital as per the guidelines of the government.
On Wednesday, The Prime Minister's rally in Ferozepur had to be cancelled due to a security lapse after some protesters blocked a route and forced his convoy to spend about 20 minutes on a flyover. The Prime Minister was enroute the National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala when the incident happened.
Although the department has all infrastructural needs in place to deal with the large number of cases expected in case of the third wave becoming a reality, he also appealed to the people to get themselves fully vaccinated against the virus as it is the most potent tool to avoid Covid-19.
Regretting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to cancel his scheduled visit to Ferozepur midway, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said on Wednesday that there was no security lapse that led to the cancellation of the Prime Ministers visit to the bordering town.
