Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has said the State government will allow sheep but not goats to graze in forest lands and horticulture crops. The district collectors have been instructed to permit sheep into forest and horticulture crop, the latter spreading over 12 lakh acres in the State, Mr. Rao said at a public meeting after laying the foundation stone for buildings of cowherd and shepherd communities at Kokapet in Ranga Reddy district on Friday.
The Chief Minister sanctioned ₹1 crore from the Backward Classes Welfare Department as corpus for welfare of the two communities. He appealed to non-resident Indians to contribute to the sum.
He promised to nominate a leader from the communities on behalf of the TRS for the biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha in March. Forecasting a bright future for shepherds,
Mr. Rao said the Government had procured 35 lakh sheep for distribution on subsidy to the community and they had given birth to 13 lakh more offspring. The owners will create a wealth of thousands of crores of rupees, he said. There were only two eligibility norms for distribution of sheep. One, the beneficiaries should belong to the community and they should be above the age of 18 years. There was no limit of beneficiaries within a family.
Mr. Rao said the sheep distribution was going on for 7.61 lakh beneficiaries which will require an additional ₹5,000 crore. The Government had initially budgeted ₹5,000 crore.
He asked Animal Husbandry Minister T. Srinivas Yadav to study meat processing units overseas. The units should also be set up in urban areas with financial assistance from the BC Welfare Department, he opined.
He recalled telling Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi recently that he had no intention of going to national politics though Telangana was taking rapid strides in development. Mr. Singh was stunned on hearing from him that farmers need not have to repay a rupee out of ₹8,000 input cost for agriculture that the Government would pay from the next season, Mr. Rao said.
He praised Mr. Yadav for conceiving the idea of veterinary clinics for cattle. The meeting was also attended by Karnataka Transport Minister H.M. Revanna, who lauded the sheep distribution programme.
