An Increment In The Daily Allowance For The Cattle In Fodder Camps

An increase from Rs 90 to Rs 100 in the daily allowance for the Cattle in the Fodder Camps – Mr Chandrakant Patil

Mumbai Dt 15: In line with the increased costs of fodder, foodstuff, and transportation the government has decided to increase the daily allowance rewarded to the cattle admitted in the fodder camp. As per this decision an increment of Rs 10 in the subsidy will assure Rs 100 daily allowance to adult cattle and Rs 50 daily allowance to calves. This decision for hike in allowance will help to cope up with the increased requirements of fodder camp including 18 Kg green fodder and 1 Kg nutritional foodstuff for large cattle and 9 Kg green fodder and 1kg nutritional supplements for the small cattle. This information has been provided by Revenue Minister and the head of Drought Relief Sub Committee, Mr Chandrakant Patil. 

To overcome the severe drought condition in the state, the meeting of Drought Relief Sub Committee was conducted under the headship of Mr Patil. During this meeting, different points were reviewed by the committee panel including severe drought situation in the state, fodder camps, water supply systems, employment guarantee schemes, etc. The meeting was also attended by other committee members including Medical Education Minister Mr Girish Mahajan, Child and Women Welfare Minister Mrs Pankaja Munde, Soil and Water Conservation Minister Prof Ram Shinde, Tourism and Employment Guarantee Scheme Minister Mr Jaykumar Raval, Animal Husbandry Minister Mr Mahadev Jankar, etc. and they provided their inputs for the draught relief plan.

As per the discussions during the meeting, Mr Patil informed that 1417 fodder camps are operational in the state and 9 Lakh 39 Thousand 372 livestock has been given shelter in these camps. The food requirements for this livestock ranges from 18 Kg green fodder and 1kg nutritional supplement for adult cattle to 9 kg green fodder and 1kg nutritional foodstuff for the young cattle. With an increase in the fodder and water requirements in the fodder camps, eventually, the transportation costs have also increased, therefore, the Government has decided to increase the daily allowance by Rs 10. According to the criteria of the Central Government, adult cattle should have an allowance of Rs 70 and small cattle should have been tendered with Rs 30 allowance, however, due to the severe drought situation in the state, additional grant has been sanctioned for the Maharashtra state to look after the wellbeing of the cattle. Mr Patil also emphasised that funds amounting to Rs 111 Crore have been approved for Aurangabad region and the amount of Rs 4 Crore and Rs 47 Crore are being distributed to Pune and Nashik regions respectively, for handling the drought situation. 

Drought Relief commiitee also reviewed other statistics like tanker water supply is being offered in 4331 villages and 9470 colonies (Wadi) in the state through 5493 tankers system. They informed that Tehsildars are given additional privileges to sanction tanker water requests to cope up with the increased water demands. Another drought relief step has been taken through the distribution of crop insurance amount to the farmers and hence, 67 Lakhs farmers have been benefitted with the crop insurance compensations throughout the state. For this purpose, Rs 4412 Crore fund amount has been utilised. Mr Patil also informed that all Guardian Ministers were instructed to assess the drought condition in the district through visits and their inputs are considered while formulating the drought relief plans. 

Other attendees of this meeting were Water Supply and Sanitation Department Upper Chief Secretary Mr Shamlal Goyal, Finance Department Chief Secretary Mr Rajgopal Deora, Animal Husbandry Department Chief Secretary Mr Anup Kumar, Agriculture and Water Conservation Department Secretary Mr Sachin Ekanath Davale, and Help and Rehabilitation Department Secretary Mr Kishor Raje Nimbalkar, etc.