BHOPAL: Cops in Dindori district of Madhya Pradesh have an uncanny, but onerous task at hand – to search over 70 Kadaknath or Kali Masi variety chicks (fowls having black flesh) which have been stolen from the state government’s agricultural farm 10 days ago.
The Dindori Kotwali police in the tribal-dominated Dindori district is investigating a complaint by the Principal of the Agriculture Extension and Farmers Training Centre about the theft of 70-plus Kadakanth variety chicks from a makeshift poultry farm in the 10-hectare sprawling agriculture farm on August 28 night.
Three months back, the state government’s agriculture extension and training centre in Dindori sourced over 140 Kadaknath breed chicks from Jhabua district to embark on a project to promote Kadaknath farming among farmers of Dindori, Mandla and Shahdol districts as part of larger motive of making agriculture profitable.
“The chicks were housed in a makeshift poultry farm in the sprawling agricultural farm adjoining the Agriculture Extension and Farmers Training Centre. But on August 28 night, unidentified men broke the gates of the farm and decamped with over 70 Kadaknath chicks, which once grown up into 8-10 months adults fetch between Rs 800 and Rs 1000 per chicken in the market. The matter has subsequently been reported to the police,” said Ashwini Jharia, the principal of the Agriculture Extension and Farmers Training Centre.
Jolted by the loss of the 70-plus Kadaknath chicks, the remaining 60-plus black chicken variety chicks have been shifted to the premises of the Centre, where a special poultry farming facility has been created. “All the remaining Kadaknath chicks have been put under CCTV surveillance for which eight CCTV cameras have been installed at the new facility inside the Centre’s premises. A chowkidar is also being deployed for the safety of the remaining chicks,” Jharia told The New Indian Express on Saturday.
While confirming the receipt of the complaint about the missing Kadaknath chicks from the Centre, the Dindori Kotwali police station in-charge Varsha Patel said, “the complaint is being investigated and the police are working on the matter.”
The Kadaknath or Kali Masi jet black breed of chicken originates from Jhabua, Dhar and Alirajpur districts of west MP. It’s in high demand owing to its high-protein nutritional content and purported medicinal properties.
In August 2018, the famous Kadaknath black chicken meat from Jhabua district of west MP had got the Geographical Indication (GI) tag.
In January this year, IS Tomar, the principal scientist of the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) in MP’s Jhabua district had written a letter to Team India captain and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to add the Kadaknath chicken meat to the Men in Blue’s diet during the cricket series in Australia.