Sirsa, Fatehabad districts ban sale, transport of fodder

Hisar, April 22

In view of the fodder crisis, the district administrations of Sirsa and Fatehabad have banned the sale of dry fodder made of straw of wheat, paddy, mustard and guar to the brick-kiln or cardboard factories and have also started a drive to detain the tractors loaded with fodder in the districts from transporting it to other areas.

The Fatehabad district authorities stopped about 20 tractors loaded with fodder from moving out of the district today. A tractor owner said a district official forced them to stop and directed him to unload the fodder at a gaushala for a price of Rs 500. “We purchased it at a rate of Rs 700 per quintal and Rs 80 per quintal as labour cost. We have agreements with our customers at a rate of Rs 900 per quintal. Some tractors were forced to unload in a few guashalas at a loss,” said Raju Tudiwala from Ratia town of Fatehabad district.

He said the Block Development and Panchayat Officer (BDPO) had directed them to meet the DC to discuss the matter and that tractors would be taken to the gaushalas for unloading.

In Sirsa district, acute shortage triggered rise in the prices and the gaushalas were concerned about the annual quota of the fodder for the cows. A gaushala official said there were 134 guashalas in Sirsa district and all were facing a shortage of fodder.

“In Shri Gaushala of Sirsa, there are 2,350 cows, which require 60 quintals of fodder daily. Another gaushala which requires about 8,000 quintal of fodder to feed cattle for the year, but they had only 700 quintals of fodder,” he said. —