Express News Service
GUWAHATI: Cows from Gir will graze the fields of Assam’s Gorukhuti which was in news in September after two persons were killed in police firing during an eviction drive that turned violent.An Assam government delegation is currently in Gujarat, finalising a deal to buy 500 Gir cows as a part of the Gorukhuti Land Development Project which also entails farming.The cattle will be procured for milk as well as to multiply their numbers through artificial insemination.Purnananda Konwar, who is the administrative and nodal officer of Assam Agribusiness and Rural Transformation Project and Operational Project Implementation Unit, said the government had plans to buy 5,000 cows – 500 of them within this year.“In the first phase, our target is to buy 500 cows for the Gorukhuti project. We are trying to procure 200 cows within this month…“We had a meeting with Gujarat Minister Raghavji Patel yesterday. A no-objection certificate is required to transport the animal. It’s a long process but we are trying to simplify it,” Konwar, a member of the Assam government delegation, told this newspaper.He said the selection of the cows was on and some 120 of them had been already selected. The cows will be brought to Assam once the Gujarat government completes the formalities.The Gir cows are widely known for their milk-producing qualities. The Assam government is looking to buy those which yield 12-15 litres of milk. They cost around Rs 60,000 to Rs 65,000. The cost of transport has not been calculated yet. The government is also buying one-two bulls, Konwar said.“This is a pilot project for Gorukhuti. We have a number of dairy cooperative societies and we will facilitate procurement for them in the next stage,” he said.He added: “The 500 cows at Gorukhuti will be our stock. Our plan is to buy 5,000 cows. From this stock, we will get around 2,000 female calves every year through artificial insemination.”In July, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had stated the state would start artificial insemination in cattle using sex-sorted semen so that only superior breeds of cows, and no bulls, were born.Konwar said the Gorukhuti project had nothing to do with the proposed introduction of the use of sex-sorted semen for the benefit of dairy farmers.As a part of the Gorukhuti project, seeds of various crops have been already sown in 4,000 bighas of land made encroachment-free in September. The government has plans to extend the cultivated area to 10,000 bighas (1 bigha is 27,000 square feet).