Proposal for 21-acre dairy complex approved at Ambala Haryana

The Haryana government has approved the Ambala Sadar municipal council’s proposal to develop a dairy complex spread across 21 acres at Brahmin Majra village.

The complex will have a capacity to house approximately 5,000 cattle, that will be shifted from at least 300 dairies under the council limits, officials said.

Sandeep Solanki, executive officer of MC Sadar Zone, said that the project will be carried out at a cost of ₹5.06 crore and the process to register the site under MC’s name will begin this week.

It has been a long pending demand of locals to shift the dairies out of the residential areas, as most of them don’t have facilities to dispose animal waste, which flow into sewer lines and choke large drains.

However, the project has already been delayed for over a decade, primarily due to unavailability of land. Now, the upcoming complex will help improve hygiene in the region, as all the dairies will come under one roof. The village panchayat has also passed a resolution on this.

Home and health minister Anil Vij, who represents the Cantonment constituency in the state assembly, said that this modern dairy complex will have a veterinary hospital for free treatment of animals, a biogas plant, fodder store and pond. “The budget has been approved and a long pending demand of the residents will be fulfilled,” the minister said.

Scall-scale dairy owners in city left anxious

As the Ambala municipal corporation ramps up the process to shift cattle from almost 250 dairies under city limits to Kanwala or Katholi dairy complexes, the owners of small-scale farms have been left anxious.

Megha Ishu Goyal, councillor from ward number 9, said that such farmers have no way out as they don’t have any other employment option and cannot afford to shift. “They were not allotted plots at the complex in 2004 and MC have warned many of them for operating illegally. The civic body should look into the matter or allot plots to them in other areas,” she said.

Kicking-off seizure of animals of from dairies that were not allotted any space, an MC team gave notices to four owners on Saturday with a two-day warning, Mandeep Singh, sanitary inspector (city zone), said.

MC commissioner Dhirendra Khadgata said that according to a 2004 survey, the dairies were allotted land in the two complexes. “No re-survey can be done and those left can’t operate under MC limits,” he said.

The Hindustan Times Oct 25 2021