Rs 29L to push Gir-Tharparkar breed cows fail to take off

Jaipur: Lakhs of rupees are being spent on projects in the name of cattle promotion in the state but the results are not seen. One such scam has surfaced in a case related to increasing the number of cows of Gir and Tharparkar breeds wherein around Rs 29 lakh were spent in the name of producing 150 advanced breed cows using embryo transplant technique.

This was allegedly done with the connivance of an organisation and the officers of the Gopalan department. However, permission was not taken from the Finance department for the project and the Gopalan department director Lal Singh approved the payment of Rs 13 lakh 69,000 on July 29, 2022, his last working day. However, transplantation was done in 150 cows but only 31 got pregnant and the scheme failed.

In 2018, the then-BJP government laid a foundation for the promotion of the cow dynasty. Under the National Agriculture Development Scheme, efforts were made for the promotion of cattle in the Raftaar scheme. Under this, it was decided to adopt in vivo fertilization and embryo transfer techniques to augment Gir and Tharparkar breed cows. For this, the Gopalan department issued a work order to National Dairy Development Board Dairy Services, New Delhi on August 31, 2018. As per the work order, embryo implantation was to be done in 150 cows in the second financial year. Sabarmati Ashram Gaushala Gujarat, run by National Dairy Development Board, was entrusted with this work. The organization has received a payment of Rs 28 lakh 81,000 from Gopalan department for preparing 150 embryos, transplanting, & freezing them.

According to the rules of the state government, officers or employees cannot take decisions like financial payments on the last working day. Despite this, Singh gave the approval to pay the amount to Sabarmati Ashram Gaushala on July 29, 2022, without taking approval from the Finance department for the project. The Chief Accounts Officer of the department, Dhan Singh Meena, had objected to this but Singh bypassed it.

On August 25, 2021, the file for payment of 13.69 lakhs to Sabarmati Gaushala was moved. Meena wrote on September 29, 2021, the organization was not selected from a competent level. Rule 32 of RTPP Rules 2013 was violated by the order dated September 4, 2013.