26 teams set out to procure sheep from Karnataka

​Mahbubnagar: The Animal administration department in Mahbubnagar district has sent 26 teams to Raichur and Koppal districts of the neighboring Karnataka State to procure 5.685 lakh sheep as part of sheep distribution scheme launched by the State government.

Joint Collector Shiva Kumar Naidu is leading these teams. Each team constitutes one veterinary doctor, one compounder and two attenders.

As the State government has decided to distribute sheep to ‘Golla’ and ‘Kuruva’ community beneficiaries from June 20, the animal husbandry department is gearing up to distribute as many as 27,000 sheep units to about 519 sheep associations constituting around 54,080 beneficiaries in the district.

However, the officials have decided to distribute the sheep in two phases and accordingly divided the total number of beneficiaries into two parts.

The first part constitutes 27,075 beneficiaries, who would be given sheep during first phase, while the remaining 27,006 beneficiaries will get sheep during the second phase. “As part of the sheep distribution scheme, we have decided to distribute about 5.685 lakh sheep during first phase this year.

Overall, more than 54,080 beneficiaries have been identified and they will be given sheep in two phases,” said Abdul Rashid, Assistant director of the district animal husbandry department.

Though the government had sanctioned only 15,678 units to Mahbubnagar, with wide publicity and awareness programmes on the scheme, the officials have received large number of applications and have identified as many as 54,080 eligible beneficiaries and accordingly have sent proposals to the government.

As part of the first phase of sheep distribution scheme, the officials have decided to distribute 27,075 units of sheep. Each beneficiary would get one unit, which will have 20 sheep and one male sheep and costs Rs 1.25 lakh. Of which the beneficiary has to bear Rs 32,750 as his share, while the remaining Rs 93,250 will be borne by the government.

To implement the sheep distribution scheme in a fool proof manner, the officials of animal husbandry department have decided to tag each sheep with the aadhar number of the beneficiary. Each sheep will get a tag attached to the ear hole of the sheep and the photographs and other details about the sheep will be documented and would be stored safely with the animal husbandry department.

“To implement the scheme in a fool proof manner, we are tagging each sheep with aadhar numbers of the beneficiary and every 3 months we will conduct inspections to ensure the beneficiary do not misuse the scheme,” informed Rashid.

The officials are gearing up to distribute at least 40 units in five villages under each mandal from June 20. The beneficiaries are selected through lottery draw system. Having learned about the government’s initiatives, the ‘Golla’ and ‘Kurma’ communities were happy as they felt it would help them increase their income levels and living standards.

“We are happy that the TRS government is giving sheep to us. Though we lived rearing sheep earlier, we have lost them due to disease and incurred huge losses. With government’s initiative we will retain our livelihood once again,” said Golla Chennaiah of Peddapally village in Jadcherla mandal.

To ensure recovery of losses due to disease and viral infections to the sheep, the government is insuring all the sheep and the government will pay the premium.