- विज्ञापन -
Chandigarh: Punjab Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian was denied permission by the Ministry of External Affairs to visit the US. Khudiyan was to visit ABS Global’s lab in Wisconsin, USA along with officials from March 29 to April 6.
Here he had to negotiate for obtaining sexed semen for Holstein Friesian (HF) breed cows for the dairy farmers of Punjab . The entire expense of the trip was to be borne by the Punjab Livestock Development Board. He had written a letter to the Ministry of External Affairs for the trip in the first week of March. However, the Ministry of External Affairs refused to approve the trip.
This is not the first time that political clearance has been refused to a minister of the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was denied permission to visit Paris Olympics last year. In 2022, political clearance was also denied to minister Aman Arora when he had sought permission to travel to Germany and Belgium.
Official said- ABS Global wanted to set up a lab in Punjab
A senior government official of the Punjab government said- “The Punjab government was in talks with ABS Global to obtain sexed semen for HF breed cows. Most dairy farmers prefer HF cows over Gir or Sahiwal breeds as they give up to 81 liters of milk per day.
Artificial insemination is used for 30 lakh cows, but sexed semen is available for only 1.5-1.75 lakh cows. The way forward in dairy development is to get at least 5 lakh sexed semen every year so that more number of cows are produced. ABS Global, a global sexed semen giant, was in talks to set up a lab in Punjab. We wanted to formalise the deal, but now it will be delayed.”
Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan also did not get permission
Punjab Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan was not approved for one of his international tours in 2023. Sandhwan was to be a part of a program in Kentucky, USA. He was to participate in a program related to parliamentary studies abroad, but he too did not get permission from the central government.
