Animal protection body protests against shortage of dry fodder
Amritsar, July 15
The Anti-Crime and Animal Protection Association along with the Dairy Farm Association today held a demonstration outside the Hall Gate area in protest against the shortage of dry fodder, which is allegedly being diverted to paper mills as fuel.
The dry fodder shortage would leave milch animals hungry, they pointed out. The agitators burnt an effigy of the state government during the protest. They said they had submitted memorandums to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, the Deputy Commissioner and all MLAs of the holy city regarding the issue being faced by the dairy farmers, but nothing had been done so far.
Dr Rohan Mehra, chairman of the Animal Protection Association, said they had urged the government and authorities at the district and state levels to take urgent measures to not allow its diversion to industry, especially paper industry, for fuel. He said the next production of dry fodder would not happen for the next 10 months.
He said around 90 per cent of the dry fodder produced this year was diverted to industrial units and the remaining stock was being sold at higher rates. The associations demanded that the Punjab Government should take stern measures and frame norms so that factories could not procure the same.
