Musk deer centre won’t be shifted from Bageshwar, assures Union minister

DEHRADUN:Putting to rest all speculations, Union Minister of State for AYUSH (independent charge), Shripad Yesso Naik on Thursday said the Musk Deer Research Centre would not be shifted from Bageshwar in Uttarakhand.

Jotirmay Thapliyal

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 19

Putting to rest all speculations, Union Minister of State for AYUSH (independent charge), Shripad Yesso Naik on Thursday said the Musk Deer Research Centre would not be shifted from Bageshwar in Uttarakhand.

The minister, who was in Kumaon, gave the assurance after Union Miniser of State for Textiles and Almora-Pithoragarh MP Ajay Tamta and local MLA Karan Mahra urged the minister not to shift musk deer centre out of Dharamghar in Bageshwar district.

The assurance came after reports of the Musk Deer Research Centre being shifted out of Bageshwar were doing rounds. The research centre, Dharamghar, is managed by the Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences that is an autonomous body of the Union Ministry of AYUSH.

Assuring that the centre would not be shifted, the minister said if need be he would talk to the Union Ministry of Forests in this regard. The Union Minister also emphasised on the significance of musk deer from conservation point of view.

He also lauded the works of the Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences for their work towards conservation of medicinal plants. He asserted that Ayurveda was being given much emphasis by the Union government.

Established way back in 1974, the Musk Deer Research Centre breeds deers for musk which is used for medicinal purposes. The high value musks keep high fragrance and is extracted from the genital glands of male deer. It is traditionally used in a large number of Ayurvedic and Yunani medicines. The centre has a mandate to extracts the musk through latest techniques without causing any adverse effect to the deer.

But with the passage of time, the centre was fast going into oblivion. In 2004, there were reports that the Ayush Ministry would hand over this centre to the state Forest Department. But that never happened. Then there were reports of shifting the centre to Nainital zoo. This when for past several years, no musk extraction work has been done at the centre putting a question mark on the very existence of the centre. But Union Ayush Minister’s statement now has come as a big boost towards revival of the Musk Deer Research Centre.