JHANG, Aug 9: The Livestock Department officials, most of whom hail from districts of Khanewal, Vehari and Multan, are opposing the proposed establishment of a "Research centre for conservation of Sahiwal cattle" at Jhang , as they do not relish the idea of serving at a place far away from their home districts.

They are also using the influence of parliamentarians of their respective districts to persuade the provincial government to refrain from shifting the proposed project from south Punjab.

This was stated by Jhang livestock breeders association patron Safdar Saleem Sial while talking to newsmen here. He said the department intended to initiate a five-year proposed project with an estimated expenditure of Rs80 million for the promotion of livestock in Punjab with particular emphasis on conservation of Sahiwal cattle.

The project, he said, was likely to be particularly focussed on the districts of Jhang, Sahiwal, Faisalabad, Muzaffargarh, Okara, Khanewal and Sargodha where almost all the livestock forms of the Sahiwal cattle existed.

He said the staff for the project had already been recruited or selected, and majority of them belonged to the districts of Vehari and Multan. Some of the senior officials, using their influence, managed to have selected a place - Kutcha Kho near Khanewal as the headquarters of the project.

Mr Sial enumerated reasons for the establishment of the headquarters of the project in Jhang. Firstly, he said that Jhang was located in the centre of Punjab. As far as the districts included in the project were concerned, he said that Jhang was an ideal location.

It was equally accessible to farm breeders of Sargodha, Faisalabad on one side and Muzaffargarh, Sahiwal and Khanewal on the other, whereas Kutcha Kho was located in a distant edge of the project area, convenient only for department officers residing in that area.

In this regard, Mr Sial gave the example of Khizarabad livestock farm in Sargodha district, the biggest farm of Sahiwal breed of cattle in the country, which is some 350kms away from Kutcha Kho, whereas it is only 150kms from Jhang.

Secondly, the Jhang district, apart from dozens of small and medium livestock farms, had nine major farms of this breed of cattle - Bukhari farms, Shah Jewna farms, Gill farms, Green Sands farms, Chadhar farms, Kot Amir farms, Gillani farms, Sial farms and Shamsher Khan farms.

He said the cattle from these farms had always won laurels at the horse and cattle show in Lahore and other competitions across the country. In comparison, he said that Khanewal had only two government livestock farms in the public sector - Jahangirabad and Allah Dad farms.

Both these farms had rarely participated in national or provincial level competition. The cattle from the Jhang district won 10 prizes at the horse and cattle show in 2004.

Thirdly, being a district headquarters, he said Jhang enjoyed the facilities of natural gas, uninterrupted power supply, far better educational and health facilities for the officers, personnel and their families as compared to Kutcha Kho, which was a rural area.

Finally, Mr Sial said that at least Rs20 million allocated for the construction of building and residences could be saved as there already existed a spacious Livestock department building, only some 3kms from Jhang.

The department building, originally constructed for production and extension programme, is spread over an area of two acres with 32 acres of agricultural land and an electric tubewell attached to it.

The project did not materialize and the buildings are lying vacant in excellent condition with residences for grade 18, 17, and 16 officers, apart from the dormitories.

By utilizing this complex for housing the headquarters of the proposed research centre, the government could save not only Rs20 million on the construction of new buildings but also the already existing complex from ruining.