Stressing the need for giving major push to rural economy, Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti today called for devising a model for developing livestock in the State for which she suggested developing breed-specific villages.Chairing the first ever meeting of the Jammu & Kashmir Animal Welfare Board here this morning, the Chief Minister said livestock and dairy have good potential for employment and asked for devising means to tap this major resource of rural economy. She also asked for dovetailing various schemes like RKVY and other national dairy development schemes in this regard to achieve the desired results.Minister for Animal & Sheep Husbandry, Abdul Ghani Kohli and Minister of State for Animal & Sheep Husbandry, Mir Zahoor Ahmad were present in the meeting.Mehbooba Mufti suggested identification of villages, particularly in border areas, to be adopted as milk villages whereby all the facilities of treatment and welfare of livestock besides market support would be made available. This could be done on the lines of saffron village, apple village, basmati village etc. schemes which would not only institutionalize the otherwise routine village activity but also create job opportunities for the rural youth, she observed.
The Chief Minister also advised for linking these villages with cooperative units so that after their successful operationalisation these model villages can be replicated all across the State. She suggested that some portion of funds from the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) of the legislators could be used on such initiative or one village in each constituency can be adopted by respective legislators so that these milk or livestock villages are developed in convergence mode, in a short time and without any major financial hassles.Mehbooba Mufti asked the concerned Departments to work together to hammer out what needs to be done to address the issues of fodder, livestock health and marketing in these villages for which she asked them to devise a plan of action.The Chief Minister also enquired about the status of construction of new abattoirs at Srinagar and Jammu and issued strict instructions for maintaining hygiene and cleanliness at these places.The Chief Minister was informed that Rs 28 crore ultra-modern abattoir at Srinagar and two modern abattoirs at Jammu have been approved by the Centre and work on these would start soon. She urged the concerned Department to expedite the work on these projects.Earlier, the Chief Minister was briefed about the composition and activities of the board by the concerned officials.Financial Commissioner, Planning & Development and Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, B B Vyas and Administrative Secretaries of various Departments, Directors of Animal & Sheep Husbandry also attended the meeting.