by Mayukh Goswami 

MANGALDAI::The proposed dairy farm of the Gorukhuti multipurpose agricultural project at Garukhuti village under Sipajhar revenue circle in Darrang district has been strengthened with the accommodation of 300 new cows brought from Gujarat on April 3 . Thus the total no of cows all brought from Gujarat and with the special milk yielding breed called ‘Gir’ has increased to 500. Three separate scientifically designed temporary sheds have already been constructed at the project site to offer proper shelter to the animals .

Earlier the cows were brought to nearby railway junction at Rangia through a consignment in goods carrying train and the veterinary officials from both Darrang and Rangia and accompanied by a team of volunteers from the project Gorukhuti received them in the previous midnight. The team led by a senior veterinary officer and in charge of Gorukhuti dairy farm Dr. Jugabrata Nath and former AASU activist Naba Kumar Deka while helped the cows in their smooth onward journey to Gorukhuti through thirty nos of trucks provided by the Darrang district administration. “ Another 1500 cows including ‘Sahiwal’ breed are to be accommodated in the Dairy Farm in coming days.

The Gir breed is one of the principal Zebu breeds originated in India which has been used locally to improve the other breeds namely Red Sindhi and Sahiwal. The Gir breed has also been used to develop the Brahman breed in North America” said Padma Hazarika, Chairman of the project Gorukhuti before media on the special significance of the breeds of cows which have been bought from Gujarat. Meanwhile keeping in mind the demand of fresh green grass for the large nos of cows in the dairy farm the district veterinary department has reportedly started planting of high yielding Napier variety of grass and other grasses in the abandoned land of District Vocational Training Center at Dalgaon and the adjoining areas of Gorukhuti “Project Gorukhuti”-the dream project initiated by Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma under the able leadership of former AASU leader turned Sootea legislator Padma Hazarika at the fertile a land of Gorukhuti freed from once encroached upon by the organized encroachers with the involvement local young farmers. Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma during his visit to Gorukhuti on June 7of 2021 , had announced his dream to engage the indigenous unemployed youths for multipurpose cropping through organic means.

The Assam Government for this purpose constituted ‘Project Gorukhuti’ taking Sootea legislator Padma Hazarika as its Chairman and Mangaldai Parliamentarian Dilip Saikia, both the legislators Dr. Paramananda Rajbongshi of Sipajhar and Mrinal Saikia of Khumtai as the members of the Project. The state government also has sanctioned an amount of Rs. 9.6 crores to the ‘Project Gorukhuti’ and accorded the rank and status of Cabinet Minister to Padma Hazarika.