India News | ACB to Probe Cow Shelters Taking Grants Fraudulently in Jaisalmer: Minister

Jaipur, Jul 18 (PTI) The Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) will investigate cow shelters taking grants fraudulently in Jaisalmer district, Gaupalan Minister Joraram Kumawat said in the Rajasthan Assembly on Thursday.

Strict action will be taken against the culprits and "the grant amount will be recovered from such cow shelters", the minister said while replying to supplementary questions during Question Hour in the Assembly.

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Kumawat said that a confidential investigation and surprise inspection of cow shelters in the Jaisalmer district was conducted by the directorate of Gaupalan on February 7 and 8, 2024.

During the inspection, discrepancies were found between the reported and the actual number of cows in 12 shelters, he said, adding that the grants for these cow shelters were subsequently stopped.

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Kumawat also informed the House that in the investigation conducted by the district collector, Jaisalmer, irregularities were also found in 16 more cow shelters.

Similarly, an investigation by the joint director of the Animal Husbandry Department uncovered irregularities in four other cow shelters, the minister said. Consequently, grants to all these cow shelters were also stopped, he said.

Kumawat said that the then joint director, Animal Husbandry Department, Jaisalmer was suspended for supervisory negligence in the grant process for cow shelters in in March 2024.

Actions were also taken against four doctors and two sub-divisional officers of Bhatiana Pokaran, the minister said.

Efforts are being made to conduct a detailed investigation by the ACB into the irregularities in all the subsidised cow shelters, including these 32 cow shelters in Jaisalmer that have been fraudulently receiving grants.

Earlier, in a written reply to the original question posed by MLA Kalicharan Saraf, Animal Husbandry Minister Kumawat said that in the financial year 2023-24, the Directorate of Animal Husbandry conducted a confidential investigation and surprise inspection of cow shelters in Jaisalmer district. Gross irregularities were found in 32 cow shelters, leading to the suspension of their grants for the financial year 2023-24.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)