The new service, with the objective of providing medical assistance to cattle in rural parts, will be introduced with private participation. A sum of Rs five crore will be utilised to develop sheep and cattle farms. A sum of Rs 10 crore has been earmarked for setting up pasteurisation units in Gulbarga and Belgaum. An equal sum has been provided for setting up a milk processing unit in Chikkaballapur, the Minister revealed.

Financial assistance
He said that incentive totalling to Rs 28.57 crore has been provided to 26,971 beneficiaries for purchasing cows or buffaloes during the years 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10.

Each beneficiary has been provided Rs 10,000 under Amrutha scheme. It has been proposed to increase the financial assistance to Rs 35,000 with 50 per cent, 60 per cent and 75 per cent subsidy to General Category, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe farmers respectively.

The minister revealed that the direction selection process to fill 487 posts in Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services Department has been set in motion. Earlier, the minister chaired a review meeting of the officials of the Department. The problems faced by the Department were brought to the notice of the Minister on the occasion. The officials said while there has been great demand for Giriraja variety of chicken, the supply has been proper.

They said that the Department was facing difficulty to provide quality service as several vacancies of veterinary doctors and assistants have not been filled up in the district.
They also pointed out to poor infrastructure with majority of the buildings in dilapidated condition. The minister promised to address the problems in a phased manner. He asked the officials to discharge their duties with diligence.

Deputy Commissioner Anwar Pasha has said that as many as 340 beneficiaries have been identified for the ‘Amrita scheme’ in the district. The scheme provides subsidy for purchase of cow or buffalo.

Speaking to reporters here on Friday Deputy Commissioner Anwar Pasha said  the process of selecting the beneficiaries which was delayed due to technical reasons, was completed last week and hence there will not be any more delay in granting the subsidy.
District In-charge Minister Mumtaz Ali Khan had recently taken the Deputy Commissioner to task for the delay in identifying the beneficiaries for the scheme.

Minister’s musings on chair
The post of a minister is a bed of thorns for honest people and a bed of roses for the corrupt, Revu Naik Belamagi said, replying to a question.
“We initiate stringent measures by suspending the staff for dereliction of duty. Within no minute pressure mounts on us to withdraw the suspension followed by a direction to do so. How can a honest person work under such circumstances?” the minister shared his travails.