Minister for Animal, Sheep Husbandry and Fisheries, Abdul Ghani Kohli, today inaugurated the first poultry village of state at Rani-Badetar, Kalakote in district Rajouri.On the occasion, the Minister distributed one thousand chicks of Ven -Raja and RIR breed among 50 BPL families.The Minister, while addressing a public gathering said the scheme of creating poultry villages will play an important role in ensuring food security besides generating employment opportunities in rural areas.The Minister said that Jammu division produces 21.7crore table eggs and around 400 lakh kg of poultry meat annually and despite such huge production the State has to import poultry products worth Rs 735 crore annually. He said the government has decided to establish poultry villages in each constituency of the state to boost local production, he added.The Minister expressed hope that the people of the villages will optimally utilize this scheme to further boost their business thus raising their socio-economic standards. He exhorted upon the officers to explore possibilities of running hatcheries in other parts of district on Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.
Reiterating the government's commitment of making the rural areas of the state self sustainable, the Minister said that government has launched many developmental schemes for uplifting the rural sector and these schemes have started yielding tangible results. He asked the people to come forward and avail the benefit of these schemes.Highlighting the government’s initiatives of developing the state to new dimensions, the Minister said that state has witnessed tremendous progress at all levels during the tenure of present dispensation. The main aim of the coalition government is to ensure the people a transparent, accountable and more responsive administration with focus on extending enhanced basic facilities.Director Animal husbandry S. K. Abrol, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Mumtaz Choudhary, Joint Director Fisheries, Mohammad Amin, Joint Director Sheep Husbandry, Dr Sanjeev, District Animal husbandry officer, District sheep husbandry officer, Executive Engineer PDD besides other district officers were present on the occasion.