Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao orders sheep for shepherd communities in Telangana

Hyderabad: The scheme to distribute sheep at a subsidy in the state, that was stalled for sometime now, should be resumed immediately, as per instructions issued by Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao on Saturday.

The programme provides sheep — at a cost of Rs 1.25 lakh per unit of animals — with the state footing 75 per cent of the cost of each unit — 20 sheep and one ram — and the rest being borne by the beneficiaries from the Golla Kuruma community.

The Chief Minister instructed minister for animal husbandry Talasani Srinivas Yadav to restart the scheme’s implementation and complete it immediately. The completion of the first phase of the scheme was put on hold with the government focusing on its efforts to control the Covid-19 pandemic in the state.

While nearly 30,000 beneficiaries have already submitted their share of the unit cost, and are waiting for sheep to be delivered to them, the Chief Minister instructed Yadav and officials of the animal husbandry department to get cracking on the programme. He also decided that the second phase of the programme will begin from the coming financial year and announced that funds for the programme will be allocated in the State Budget for 2021-22 to be introduced in March.

Following the directive from the Chief Minister, Yadav told reporters later in the day that the scheme will restart on January 16 in Nalgonda district. Thanking the Chief Minister on behalf of the Golla Kuruma community, he said there were 8,109 shepherd societies in the state with 7,61,895 members. The scheme that began in 2017 saw 3,66,373 units of sheep distributed at a cost of Rs 4,579 crore. These sheep gave birth to 1,37 crore lambs and added to the sheep population in the state. The animals born to the herds owned by the scheme beneficiaries were all worth Rs 6,169 crore.

The resumption of the scheme will see the state spend Rs 306 crore, he said.