HYDERABAD: The State told the High Court that it has taken measures to curb irregularities in implementation of sheep rearing scheme, and that sheep population has gone up to 1.95 crore, as per Livestock Census 2018. Wherever discrepancies were noticed and complaints received, police cases were registered and as many as 505 persons have been arrested, it said.
In this regard, the government, represented by secretary to animal husbandry Sandeep Kumar Sultania, filed counter affidavit in a PIL filed by ‘Watch-Voice of the People’, a society represented by its president P Narayana Swami of Mahbubnagar district, seeking CBI probe into the alleged irregularities and misuse of public money by the authorities concerned in the name of distributing sheep and fodder to the shepherds. Denying the petitioner’s allegation, the government claimed that beneifts were distributed to the real beneficiaries only.
Implementation of the scheme was entrusted to district collector concerned and funds were directly released to his account from the Telangana State Sheep and Goat Development Cooperative Federation Limited (TSSGDCFL). The scheme which is being implemented since 2016-17 has been implemented in about 7,062 villages in the State. Besides, the department has conducted sheep deworming programme in June last where about 1.75 crore sheep were dewormed which is about 89 per cent of the total sheep population.
This is a clear indication that the sheep distributed were existing, it claimed and urged for dismissal of the PIL.On the other hand, the petitioner, in his affidavit, alleged that there were several irregularities in sheep distribution scheme and the government’s contention in respect of non-available sheep units is absurd and itself makes clear that a large scale scam took place in the scheme. The matter would come up for hearing on March 12.
Huge scam took place in scheme: PIL
An NGO, in its PIL, alleged several irregularities in sheep distribution scheme and the states’s contention in respect of non-available sheep units is absurd and itself makes clear that a large scale scam took place in the scheme