Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu today inaugurated the newly constructed office building of Deputy Director Animal Husbandry at Dharamshala. Built at a cost of Rs. 3.21 crore, the building is equipped with improved facilities to facilitate cattle rearers of Kangra district.
The Chief Minister said that the State Government was committed to strengthen the rural economy. He said that the price of milk has been increased by Rs. 21 over the last two and a half years. In addition to this, the transportation subsidy on milk has been enhanced from Rs. 1.50 to rupees three per litre.
The farmers who transport milk by themselves to procurement centres located beyond a distance of two kilometers, were being provided a subsidy of rupees two per litre. These measures were playing significant role in benefitting livestock farmers.
He said that a milk processing plant with a capacity of around 1.50 lakh litre milk was being set up at Dhaghwar in Kangra district, while the capacity of the Duttnagar milk processing plant in Shimla district has also been increased. He said that due to the initiatives of the government MILKFED was being strengthened and was now procuring three lakh liters of milk per day in the state, resulting in sharp increase as compared to 90,000 liters procured during the previous BJP government.
Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Minister Chander Kumar, MLA Suresh Kumar, Chairman Wool Federation Manoj Thakur, Congress leaders Devinder Singh Jaggi and Ram Chander Pathania, Secretary, Animal Husbandry Ritesh Chauhan, Director AH Sanjeev Kumar Dhiman and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.