The summer heat is taking a toll on the cattle rearers in the district. The farmers, who are finding it hard to provide fodder and water to their cattle, are selling away their animals to slaughterhouses in the neighbouring states.
The officials put up proposals to set up five fodder centres in the district months ago to meet the requirement of the cattle rearers especially in summer. But, there has been no response from the government and the proposal submitted well in February is lying in cold storage. Though there are no official estimates on the number of cattle that have been sold to slaughter houses, farmers say lorry loads of cattle, including those who are pregnant, are being shifted to slaughterhouses in neighbouring Karnataka. Last year, the government set up three fodder centres at Madakasira, Kondur Manrotropu in Chilamatturu mandal and Penna Ahobilam during summer and 25,000 cattle were provided fodder at free of cost during the drought days.